24 hour cycle?

[birdbuddies]

Hey everybody,
I have two orpingtons that lay an egg about every 25 hours.
This summer, we got half breed baby chicks, that were half buff orpington and half some smaller chicken.
4 of them grew up to be healthy chickens and are laying an egg everyday. But they do it at 7am every single day - and scream their lungs out when they do it. I am in a city area and am so nervous about neighbours getting agitated - I have tried to bribe them with eggs, but am afraid what will happen in the summer when the chickens get up at 4-5am.
I was hoping their egg laying would move over to later in the day. But no! Is it really possible they have a 24 hour cycle?

Thanks so much,
Sanne

 

[krista74]

It sure is!

Most of my Rhode Island Red girls operate on a 25 hour cycle, laying one egg each day. They lay an hour later each day until they reset and skip a day, returning to early morning laying and then repeating the cycle.

That being said, I have two Buff Orpington girls who are in the next boxes at 8am every single day, rain hail or shine.

The fact that your girls make a big song and dance about it does not surprise me though. Orps are very vocal birds! I often say mine are like little old ladies. There is always something to complain about, and they do it loudly! In fact, they even sing the egg song when the other girls lay their eggs - as does my BO rooster! Things get very loud at our place!

- Krista

 

[mortie]

About half of mine lay the same time every day.

Most of them scream their heads off when they do, and I also live in the city so I do worry about it but there's nothing much I can do.

The WORST thing you can do is try to quiet them with treats. Chickens are super smart when it comes to food and they will VERY quickly learn that being noisy gets them treats. If you're giving them treats to shut them up, I would stop immediately and never do it again. Never reward a behavior you don't want.

Good luck!