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
Hello EdS
Often the first eggs are smaller. As the hen gets older the eggs tend to get larger.
Hi Kevin
How old are the hens and what breed(s). This makes a huge difference. Every hen does not lay an egg every day.
If they are ‘layers’ they should be up and running by Easter. With a laying breed you should expect an egg a day. However if they are a breed such as a Silkie or Pekin, these are perfect for raising chicks but will only lay intermittently. They should be laying by Easter too but only say three or four eggs a week, if they are in their first year.
After two years old hen egg laying production goes down. After four years old it nosedives.
Fake eggs in the nesting box have made a difference for me. Thanks for the nudge, I must put them back in. If you take all the eggs every day this can be disheartening for hens but if you leave the ceramic eggs in the nest they tend to lay alongside these rather than in some outlandish place.
I have just bought 4 hens, they seem to be settling in and are comfortable in their nesting boxes at night. Can any one tell me how long roughly it will take for them to feel comfortable for laying. Is there ant tricks to it?
Alright our leg horn legged it’s first egg on Sunday or Monday, so far she has laid three – about every other day. Today when we went out we noticed one of the hens was not out, she was squatted in the corner of the coop and we when got home we had our first brown egg – she is a RIR. Now we need the JG to start laying also.
One thing I noticed is the brown egg was smaller then the white eggs from the leg horn. Is this normal?
Thanks
Hello Ed S
A heat light can be a good idea if you live somewhere cold. If you could construct some sort of small screen so you could provide an area that’s not quite so bright for your hens to roost in a more restful light.
I was told to leave a light on in the coop so they could stay warm. Is this wrong? Should we be turning the light off?
Hello Brendon
If you leave the lights on 24/7 your hens will be tricked ino laying ealrlier but you are working these hen 24/7 so they will die earlier.
Would you like to work 24/7?
i bought my chickens in late july early August when the 6 months came and past i was disapointed but i was leaving there light on 24/7 then a couple of days ago they started laying then a day later a nother one started to lay so i think that first hen had an affect on the second
Hi Pat
Your hens are moulting. They will not lay until they have stopped moulting. This happens every now and then. You just have to be patient.
Rhonda, I have 24 hens – 11 mos. old – several breeds and the dark breeds are loosing the down below the vent; however, the white ones aren’t. I have looked for parisites and pecking and haven’t
observed either. Most are getting new pinfeathers
in the area. They are on Purina Crumbles (free choice), scratch in the evening and vegetable and bread scraps when I have them. They appear healthy otherwise. What is your educated guess?
Hello Rhonda
If you collect your eggs every day you will not have a problem. An egg needs to be incubated before the cells start to divide to eventually produce a chick. Until then an egg is in suspended animation. That’s why you can buy fertilised eggs by post.
A cockerel means that you can produce your own chicks. As hens get older they lay less eggs so being able to produce your own chicks could be a boon in the future.