A chicken egg can take more than a day to form and develop. The shell can take more than 20 hours and the white inside the eggs is another 4 hours or more.
But, nothing is impossible. Can a chicken lay 2 eggs a day? They can, but the chance of a chicken laying 2 eggs a day is rare. But 3 or more eggs are absolutely impossible.
Can a chicken lay 2 eggs a day?
A chicken can sometimes lay 2 eggs per day, but the chance is very rare. It happens more often on young hens that are maturing or overfed hens.
How can a chicken lay 2 eggs a day?
Chickens can sometimes lay 2 eggs a day
The 2 eggs coming from 1 chicken may not appear as 2 eggs. One of the trials done by the University of Alberta shows that some chickens did lay 2 eggs. But, many of them didn’t have a shell.
This is because a hen can only put a shell properly on 1 egg per day. As such, the shell gland can’t hold more than 1 egg at a time. And as mentioned, the eggshell takes about 20 hours to form around the yolk and the white.
In the case of 2 eggs a day, one of them will have ovulated before the other for a few hours. When the later egg enters the shell gland, the earlier one will have been calcified already.
As a result, Where the 2 eggs contact will likely be poorly calcified, and both will show the flat side. The poor shell quality can make them dehydrate a lot more while they are incubated.
Related: Can a rooster lay eggs?
Why is it rare that a chicken lays 1 egg a day?
The normal process of forming and developing 1 egg can take up more than a day to complete.
Most of the time is spent forming the shell around the yolk and the white of the egg. The shell takes about 20 hours or more, while the white takes about 4 or more.
What time in a day do chickens lay eggs?
In about 14 hours of being exposed to the sunlight, chickens will usually lay eggs about 6 hours after sunrise, or 6 hours after being exposed to artificial lights.
Without sunlight or artificial lights, chickens can stop laying eggs if it is winter or fall in the year.
The cycle isn’t always repeated immediately
Chickens don’t lay every day
Also, the chicken doesn’t necessarily lay 1 per day, every day since the process is not continuous, and the chicken won’t always start the new process right after it laid 1 egg.
There are some factors that can affect the reproductive cycle. They include:
Weather
Chickens tend to lay fewer eggs in winter compared to summer. They could even stop laying until the spring arrives.
This is because winter is not ideal for chickens to lay eggs. The cold weather will decrease the newly-born chicks’ chance of survival.
Poor health condition
Insufficient amounts of nutrients or imbalanced diets can seize egg production. They need the right amount of vitamins and minerals during this period like sodium and especially calcium.
Furthermore, poorly-stored food may release toxins that are harmful to chickens, which can stop the laying. Toxic plants’ seeds and parasites like mice, fleas, or mites can also affect egg production.
Other things that can cause a drop in egg production are stress and some disease.
Lighting
Another reason that weather can affect the reproductive cycles is that the length of day time varies throughout the year. In egg-producing facilities or farms, this effect can be nullified by artificial lights.
The lights are adjusted so that the chickens think the day length is unchanged so that they can produce eggs at summer rates every day.
Moreover, the eggs are removed occasionally to make the chickens think that the eggs in the nest are still not enough. Or fake eggs could be placed in the nests to encourage laying.
Molting
This is when old feathers go away for the new ones. It takes lots of energy, so the chickens won’t be able to lay eggs for some time, or the eggs’ quality will decline.
After the molting process, they will continue the cycle as normal.
How long do fresh eggs last?
If the eggs are transferred and stored properly, they could last 4 to 5 weeks in the refrigerator.
Keep in mind that egg quality can decline over time since the air pockets inside the eggs become bigger, the yolk and the white become less springy and thinner. As a result, it will dry up instead of going bad or rotting.
While storing the eggs, it is recommended that the temperature should be 7 degrees Celsius. And you should quickly put them inside the fridge to prevent the condensation from building up.
The eggs should be in their original carton. and at the back of the fridge to prevent temperature fluctuation when you open or close the fridge door.
Also, it isn’t recommended to freeze eggs in the shell. You can crack the eggs into a container that is freezer-safe and keep them frozen longer than 4 to 5 weeks.
Conclusion
So, a chicken can lay 2 eggs a day but that is a rare occurrence since an egg takes more than a day to form and develop, most of which is spent on the shell’s formation.
This happens more often on chickens that are maturing or ones that were overfed.
Furthermore, a chicken won’t always start forming and developing a new egg right after laying an egg.
That is because the laying cycle can be affected by many factors, such as weather conditions, poor health conditions, lighting, and the molting process.
Resources
Image credits – Photo by Jason, Lieselore Bosmans on flickr.com