When will my chickens lay eggs?
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Chickens | 661 comments
Even though I know that egg laying is unpredictable at this time of year, it’s always a bit disappointing when I lift the lid of the nesting box and there’s only one. An egg from Carol. She is firing on all cylinders now and producing one egg a day, the maximum that a domestic hen can produce.
“What’s going on with the other four chickens?” I think as I stump back through the garden in my dressing gown and wellies.
The other four chickens are elderly maidens, well into their third year. I know that after two years egg production diminishes but somehow I hoped that the organic food and beautiful adornments in the pen might make a difference. Of course they don’t. As the years roll by, the chickens will produce fewer and fewer eggs until they go to that great pecking ground in the sky.
The pretty white bantams, have never been very obliging on the egg laying front. In their prime, they probably only laid two or three eggs a week. They are not a laying strain and we knew this when we bought them. But we have discovered that they are very photogenic and are happy to model endlessly.
I’ve been checking the hen’s combs. A pink comb indicates that a chicken is going broody, and will not lay. They are all a bright vibrant red, including Mrs Boss (this chicken won The Broodiest of all Known Chickens Award 2004, 2005 and 2006).
So you can imagine my delight when I lifted the roof of the nesting box this morning and found two small eggs nestling beside Carol’s large speckled brown one. I sprang back to the kitchen to make the perfect breakfast omelette.
Leave a reply
Hi Loui
I hope that they settle into a steady laying pattern quickly for you.
Hi Carol
We got our first chickens in August and the first egg in January. Most of our hens have started laying at around eight months. Some breeds lay earlier.
My chickens have never had worms but it might be wise to worm your chickens just in case.
Hiya
We got 2 rhode island cross hens (Florance and Ermintrude) 3 weeks ago, we didn’t think at the time to ask how old they are, but they were from a reputable place so I assume around the 16 weeks mark. Can you give me an idea of when laying may start? Also after reading the previous posts is it common for chickens to have worms?
Thanks Carol
We are on the North east coast and yes the past few days its been cold again here after having some beautiful sunny days a week or so ago! I guess it is like autumn here at the moment.
thank you for your advice.
Hi Loui
Chickens change subtly all the time. Just like us!
If they make a dramatic step we notice it.
They™re affected by the weather, the interaction with each other, hormones and a load of other changes that we can’t discern.
A chicken that is a laying breed might appear to lay every day but every now and hen she doesn’t lay when she “should be laying”. All layers take a break in the autumn/winter months. You don™t say where you are located. Is it autumn for you?
When we first got our chickens (six) we thought that we™d get six eggs a day. On a few days we actually collected six eggs. Generally I collect 2 or 3 a day now. Our main flock is in their 4th year. Carol is three (generally an egg a day) and the guinea fowl hen isn™t a year old but laying for England!
Hi Mark
Moving chickens about and splitting up a coterie will affect laying. You haven’t been duped as you were told that they were hatched in 2007. Most chickens are destroyed after two years as they are past their prime (egg laying wise). Ideally buy chickens on point of lay.
Your chickens need time to find their feet, adjust to their environment and to you. Try and be as gentle as possible with them. When you visit, bring them treats – a small handful of wild bird seed or chopped fresh greens. Eventually they will settle and lay. Two chickens doesn’t necessarily mean two eggs a day.
just to add they are a 2007 hatching batch…..have i been duped as a newbie?
i have just purchsed 2 columbian leghorn bantams, they seem very timid at the moment. when do you think they will start laying? they were part of a trio does this affect things?
We have 3 Rhode Islands. They have been laying one egg a day each consistently for a month or two now. They all laid before 11am. The past few days their habits have changed and now only one of them is laying in a morning. It was teatime before we got the others last night and have only got one egg so far today. Any ideas??
Hi Gary
Nice one!
Hi Rick
I reckon that it’s the addition of the warren pullets. This will disturb the equilibrium of the flock for a bit and affect egg laying.
Yu just have to be patient. They will start laying again when they settle down.
Hi Gayla
Brown chicks don™t necessarily come from brown eggs. The colour of the chicks depends on the colour of the hen and the cockerel that fertilised the eggs.
It can take anything from 8 – 12 months between a chick hatching and maturing to laying a first egg. Depending on the time of year that the chicks hatch.
do brown chicks come from brown eggs and when will my chicks start laying?
Hi, please help if possible! I have 14 chickens and 1 cockerel, 6 white suffolks, 2 rhode island and recently added 6 warren pullets about 5 months old. until last week, the whites and the two reds were producing between them about 6-8 eggs a day, but they dwindled over the past week from 2 down to today absolutely none. any ideas about why this might happen? they dont seem to be off their food, could it be the addition of the new pullets? I read something in a post above concerning recent “dramas” we did have my 6 month old kitten visit them and scare them a bit, but the egg reduction had begun before this impromptu visit took place! thanks.