Do chickens ever lay eggs at night? - Page 2

If I only collect in the morning, then there are lots of eggs there in the morning! Honestly, how can you train a chicken when to lay an egg...

I love your comment about loving your neighbor as yourself; I read the same quote in a very good book once...

My girls are only six weeks old, so no eggs yet, but from all my research it says they should not roost in the nest boxes because they will foul the nest material too quickly. We have next boxes for the girls but have them shut up to keep them from getting into the habit of roosting in the boxes. And I think that tvtaber is right, "How can you train a chicken to lay!" That would be like tyring to train a baby to be born at a certain time and day. Yeah right!!!!

If your neighbor says anything else just tell them you are working on it and then quickly change the subject to the weather. That always works her in Texas!

Cheers!

When my hen Bea was sick she wanted to sleep in the nesting box for some reason - so I let her.  I figured since I didn't know how long she might be with us that I would just let her do her own thing and be comfortable.  She never once soiled the nesting box at night. She is healthy again and now roosts back on the perch.  I have another hen that is molting right now and she wants to sleep in a nesting box too, so I let her - and she doesn't soil in there either.  I wonder if it's a little bit less stressful laying all snug in a box rather than hanging on to a perch all night?  Also I wonder if they know instinctively not to make a mess where they lay?  I've introduced pullets to the flock and they try to roost on the lip of the boxes and poop all over - so I did shut them out at night.

Also for the first time ever I found 2 eggs laying under their perch the other morning - so I know they did lay during the night.  But I think it was because they had to lay an egg earlier in the day while they were outside free-ranging, but were too busy to come in and lay where they were supposed too, so those little stinkers couldn't hold it in any longer.   

It seems that most of my hens lay before noon, and usually the ones that need to lay an egg while they're out free-ranging do go back in the coop to lay.

I have 3 girls that lay around 8am. The eggs are still warm when I collect them. Then I have 2 that seem to lay between 10am and 12pm. I still have one girl that has never laid and egg.

Mine usually lay 11am or later. I do on rare occasion find an egg under the roost(usually broken) - I suppose the urge surprises them at night.

The hens I have now lay between about 7 and 11. I've had other hens which waited until noon or 1.

Mine don't sleep in their boxes, either...unless they think it's time to hatch an egg!

I'm just guessing here but if your neighbor grew up on a farm, it is possible it was one of those that actually supported the family, not just a "hobby farm" and since they had jobs to do all day, they probably did just gather the eggs in the AM because that was when they needed them and they didn't check the rest of the day. Hence, all the eggs, in there from throughout the day, at 6 AM sharp. They probably never even thought about the fact that all the chickens didn't lay at the same time. He is just "remembering when" and assuming what seemed to be the case, like the world being flat and all. Honest mistake I reckon. 

Just goes to show that the chickens can handle not being checked that often, even if we can't, LOL!

I swear, the one silkie hen I have that actually lays right now (my other 16 pullets are only 10 weeks), won't lay if I am trying to see it happen. One night, I swore she was about to lay and I sat there till it was dark and she was snoring on her roost so I gave up and when I went out to look the next morning about 6:15 or 6:30 and there was the most beautiful little tan egg, taunting me.....

my hens are normally done laying around 1 or 2 in the afternoon, on occasion not until about 4 or 5.....I think it depends on the hen, and whether or not they laid the day before. 

I'm chuckling thinking of "training" the chickens when to lay.