How many eggs does a chicken lay an hour, a day, a year?
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Chickens | 60 comments
If only there was a standard answer.
We often are asked this question. Danny reckons that it’s school children researching a project. I suspect that it’s grown up chicken owners that are gradually being driven crazy by the fact that their point of lay chickens, bought six months ago, have never ever laid an egg.
I’ve been there. We bought six hens, expected six eggs a day, promised eggs to our nieghburs. Five months later we collected our first egg.
Apart from our nifty little plastic hen that sits on the table at Easter and obligingly crouches to lay a small chocolate egg each time you press her back, real hens lay on a cycle of roughly a day at best. These are the hens that are bred to be layers. Our Pekin bantams are not great layers but, like Mrs Boss they go broody easily and can be great mothers if you want to breed. If you don’t want to breed and just want your hen to lay eggs this can be a nightmare. You can find out how to get over the problem of a broody hen here.
Perhaps it’s because we grew up on fairy stories that we expect all our hens to lay at least an egg a day. A golden egg would be good too, every now and then. Our hens tend to go off lay from October to January. It’s a very long break. This year it began to seem like an extended famine. Both my patience and the arm that lifts the lid of the nesting box were easing towards repetitive strain injury. This morning I nearly didn’t bother to look – the empty nests are so disheartening.
But, ever the optimist, I took a peek. Carol had laid a long brown speckled egg. I plucked it gently from the nest and rushed back to the house to announce the good news.
The first egg of the year is always a delight, almost as good as a golden egg and far more tasty.
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Hi
I’ve got three chickens all have recently begun laying. However, while all three are laying every day – one is laying a normal egg around lunchtime and two more eggs at night with a very thin shell (more membrane). She was the last to lay and the smallest of the three. Do you think this will settle down once she’s established a proper cycle?
She’s eating and drinking and running with others just fine.
Any feedback welcome.
A
Hi. We a couple of hens at the local flea market and the guy we bought them from said they were about a year old, but we haven’t gotten an egg yet. They both have rose red combs and one will sit on the small chicks we have if I set them under her. Can you help me?
Hi Ryan
I’m sorry but I don’t understand your question.
Have you put eggs ander a broddy hen? Do you have a cockerel as you need one for the hens to lay fertilised eggs that will hatch into chicks.
With a little more information, I may be able to help you.
hi i was wondering my hens are bantams and one of them layed 1 egg the other ones was bloody so how many will hatch.
thanks your freind ryan
Hi amzi_chick100
Every hen in a flock does not automatically lay an egg a day. Make sure that they have a good supply of fresh water every day, enough food in the feeder to last them for two or three days and clean them out at least once a week. Sit back and watch.
After a year or so you will clock all their rhythms. At the moment is seems scary but don’t fret. They will lay but only when they want to.
Loads of feathers mean moulting or bullying. Take a bit of time to observe your flock and see what is going on. An hour with the Sunday papers in a chair by the run can reap dividends!
Meanwhile give your flock a diversion. A football or a cabbage hung high enough so they have to jump to reach it.
Bored chickens are bad news.
Thank you. They are in a run so they couldn’t lay anywhere without us noticing. Another thing i forgot to mention was there seem to be a lot of feathers from the goldlines about, they always seem content and look like they get a long with each other. Thanks again
Hi amzi-chick100
Often when you buy hens they start by laying for England and then for no apparent reason stop. I reckon that the changeable weather must have affected them. Egg production here has been an on off affair over the past week or so.
Are you sure that they are not laying elsewhere?
Given time they will settle down. Hens are at their laying best in April. Loads of factors can have an impact on laying from bullying to the weather.
Hi!, please could someone give me some advice on our chooks. We have 3 goldlines and 2 rhode island red X which we got point of lay mid april. After about a week they all had their red combs and we were getting 5 a day, then all of a sudden about the time it turned really warm we just started getting 2, they production hasn’t increased and we havent had any eggs for a few days. All but 1 have red combs and none of them are sitting or anything, and we just can’t work out whats going on, is anyone else having the same trouble?? Thank you
Hi Lori
A hen lays one egg at a time. And then she rests for a bit.
Usually a domestic layer lays an agg a day.
id like to know if chickens have more than one egg at a time