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.
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Hello Scott
On telling the age of a hen, I don’t really know. S always says look at the legs and claws. They get thicker and more gnarled as they get older.
I reckon that you are feeding your Light Sussex well. Layers pellets are good – loads of nutrients and vitamins for hens. We supplement layers pellets with a small handful of wild bird seed in the morning – between a flock of 7 fowl. This distracts them as I fill up the water fountains and top up the food. We also give them chopped vegetable scraps and greens from the garden such as dandelion leaves. Just a little.
Great that your LS has started to lay for you. She must be a young bird.
hellooo
just keeping u ap dated my light sussex hen has layed me 2 eggs now since i last commented
and dey taste really nice thnahxz for da info u gave me
x
hello
thanxs for that and i live in engalnd/bristol
is there any way to tell the age of the hen on a estimate>>?
wht is the bestfood to feed her as at the minute im only feeding her on laying pellets can u recomend any thing else that will produce me the best eggs>>?
she is a lovely hen as a pet but not used to me yet so is running wen ever i go in her run bust is getting more braver
Hi Louisa
Egg laying in young hens depends so much on the time that they were born. With the shorter days I suspect that your hens have just missed the boat laying wise for this year and will spring into action a couple of week after the days start to get longer (December21st).
I had the same problem when we bought our first POL pullets one August – zilch until January and it was February/March for the Pekins!
Hello Elisabeth
I’ve heard about this happening to ex battery hens. They lay and then they suddenly go off lay for no apparent reason. I reckon that it’s all part of the process of settling in and preparing for the winter rest.
They will lay again, given a bit of time and patience.
Hi Stuart
Thanks for your input.
Locking them in a shed seems a bit extreme! ? The hens will settle into their new environment without this, it just takes more time.
Hello Scott
Light Sussex hens are beautiful birds.
Most of our hens have gone off lay as the days are getting shorter now in the UK.
POL so much depends on the breed and the month that the hen hatched. A chick that arrives at the end of April may not lay her first egg until the following January. A November chick might start laying as early as April – lighter longer days when she is maturing.
If you live in the northern hemisphere, your hen will probably start laying in January if she is not laying now.
regarding to the comment above i recently found out my hen is a large light sussex but im still not sure how old she is. wot is the age for point of lay for these.
can any 1 help>>?.
hellooo
i have just recently bought a hen and she is not laying im not sure how old she is im feeding her laying pellets
can any1 help me >>???
hi elisebath ususly when buying hens from battery they have had 1 lay and are about16 month old for the first 2 or 3 week you will get eggs after that they go into malt keep them locked up in a shed for 6 weeks with plenty of fresh water theyre better on rough corn till you start getting eggs again then give them 2 different feeders 1 with 20 percent mash the other 80 percent wheat watch them lay again
hi elisabeth i keep about 100 rescued battery hens each year
I don’t know how old my chickens are, i think just over a year, but they are battery rescue hens.
Up until now, they have been laying anywhere from 11 to 8 eggs a day (i have 11 girls) now all of a sudden, im lucky if i get 4, and today i have only gotten 2 !!
Is this normal, or might there be something wrong with my girls ??
They seem fine, and still attack me whenever i go in to steal their eggs…:-)
They are bedded in sawdust, and a lovely deep layer in their nesting box
My chickens are about 30 weeks old…completely free range except at night they are locked in a hen house with nesting boxes filled with hay. They have perches in the main hen house which has a pull out drawer underneath which I line with newspaper…bizarrly I check the content before deciding which page to put upwards!!!! There are 4 chickens but it now turns out that 2 of them are cocks. No sign of eggs anywhere . Fed on diet of corn pellets veg scraps and oyster shell…available all day but not at night…will mine be January layers as well?
Thank you so much for your help…wonderful site