A few chicken/egg questions

[Teeki]

We have two chickens. I used to hate the little buggers, they'd gotten bored of our backyard and spent all their time pooping under our veranda and trying to get into the sunroom lol. But now we've moved, they have a new house for night-time and spend the day roaming an acre of weeds. They're loving it, and I'm loving them again!

The house they have is brand new, and so when we moved the girls were a little shaken up with the car ride, a new place and a new unfamiliar house that included a ramp (they could not figure that out lol). It took a day or two for them to get used to the place, and they weren't laying eggs. Now though, most days I go out there there are two eggs waiting, and they're huge, hooray! But they're always in the right-side box, never the left. So I'm wondering, is one chook laying two eggs? Or are both chickens using the same box? DH reckons the right is the delivery room and the left is recovery

Then we got chatting about chickens and eggs and wondered some really stupid questions. Like, are chickens like humans, in that they're born with all their eggs? Obviously not the size they are when they come out, but are they pretty much all there and ready to grow and go? Or is a chicken constantly making new eggs? Then what happens when they're a bit flustered and stop laying? Do they stop making them, or is it like they've got one on hold there and they're just not laying it?

See, told you they were stupid questions

[RhiChiChi]

Firstly, I think both are laying in the same place. We don't have a seperate box for our girls to lay, so there are two eggs next to each other.

In relation to your other questions (lol), I really don't know! However, if I haven't fed the girls enough laying pellets, they stop laying..... So I think they are making new eggs. Mine also stopped laying during winter (not enough daylight) and when one had mites she stopped laying, it took a while for them to start laying again.

[Teeki]

In relation to your other questions (lol), I really don't know!

Hehe if someone has answers for those questions I'll be impressed! Is it possible for one chicken to lay two eggs in a day?

[Livinthedream]

Chickens carry about 8 eggs in various stages of development at any one time.
She can have sex and still lay fertile eggs up to 10 days later.
This sounds really macabre, but if you autopsy a laying hen who is currently laying, you will actually see all the eggs in different sizes, (well yolks, the shells go on very last, like in the last 24 hrs)
As to weather she is born with her full egg laying quota, i would think so, she has ovaries, and follicles like us.
Also, that would explain why different breeds are better or worse layers, even when kept in the same conditions.
Chickens who lay less tend to live longer too, the power layers like the Isa Brown types tend to burn out and die of reproductive issues after a couple of years.
And yes, your 2 hens are laying in the same box, possibly even at the same time! I have a "favorite" box and often find 2 girls in there at once with a third pacing out the front trying to cross her legs waiting to get in.!

[Teeki]

Well there you go! Thanks Livinthedream, now I can't wait for DH to get home so I can tell him all about it lol.

I think we have Isa Browns, they're just your standard red chook. I can't imagine them both in the same box! I've seen them in there at night, one in each box and they take up all the space so two in one would be tight lol.

I'm pretty amazed at them having up to 8 eggs on the go at once. I guess when they stop laying for a bit they just halt production for a while.