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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bit of a daft question-share chickens with neighbour, have 5 black rocks and 1 warren, all good layers, regularly at least 4 eggs aday even in latest cold dark weather. my neighbour now is interested in introducing a cockerel, but as a confirmed veggie this worries me as the eggs we collect will now be fertilised. obviously from reading previous comments many people happily have hens and cockerels-am I just being fussy? is there a ‘safe’ no of days for eating the eggs before cracking them open to an unwelocme surprise?
Hi All, Well my hens have started laying again. On Christmas day I found 5 eggs in the boxes. It is up to 9 today. I have 19 hens and a rooster so I’m sure it will be up to about 15 or 16 in the next week or so. Thanks for all your help and good advice. Susie in Central Florida…
Hi Sandra
The eggs with a spot of blood in are safe to eat. I usually whip out the blood spots with a teaspoon when they are in the frying pan.
As to the cause this is a good site for information about eggs (scroll down for information about blood spots).
I do hope that this is helpful.
Hello Well we are very pleased with our hens 2 and possibly 3 are now laying. The thing is that I have recently had a couple of eggs with blood in.Not very pleasant, does anyone know what causes this and are they safe to eat?
Thanks
Hello Ed S
Today was the shortest day so now we are stepping into the possibility of eggs.
The length of day will have immense repercussions regarding egg laying. Your hens start laying again in early January after their winter rest.
Don’t start worrying until your pullets are a good six months old. I can almost guarantee that they will be laying by Easter.
Hi Viv
I reckon that your egg supplier is using artificial light. Nothing wrong with this. It tricks the hens into thinking that it’s summer all year round and the hens don’t go off lay.
I prefer to let them rest if they want to in the darkest winter days. They live longer and have better lives I think.
I will get the number from the HAPPY HEN Farm where we buy all our yummy eggs from. Maybe she could give you some advice.We drive into the farm and ..well they are pushing out eggs like it’s going out of fashion! Ducks, Chickens. Geese and other feathery birds….OH! Forgot the best spuds! BEST EGGS IN THE WORLD! She needs more birds to keep up production so I reckon she could give you some sound advice!
We have three hens that were born the end of July/ begining of August time frame. A RIR, a White Leghorn and a black hen (looks like a jersey giant). They are not free roaming as we really dont have enough to let them go like that so they are kept in a 8×12 pen w/ a 4×8 coop that is three ft off the ground (I did not know they needed laying boxes, so that is next).
But they are on the medicated chick feed – recomended from the local feed store until they start laying and about every other day they get scraps of bread and about once a week they get table scraps (usually left over corn cobs and veggies).
Both the breeder and the feed store said at thier age that we should start getting eggs around mid to end of December.
Here it is four days before Christmas and nothing yet! Am I just being impatient?
Thanks – we are new at this, but all seems to be going well so far.
Hi Lee
There’s nothing that you can do except make sure that she has access to a warm hen house. Gradually she will replace the feathers that she has lost.
Fn, Daisys molting what should i do.
it dosnt matter what the weathers like rain cold or snow the weather wont stop your hens laying its the amount of day light they need 14 hours a day to produce an egg. unless of course if theyre pullets as i wrote a few week ago ive got 18 young hens that have been laying since july and im still getting 15 16 or 17 eggs a day never one day since july have i had less than 15 eggs.and its very cold in south yorkshire.