5 hens all the same age.

[lenn]

One beautiful egg on Monday. Nothing on Tuesday. 2 ugly little eggs today. How long does it take for laying to become regular? So excitted on Monday and a little confused now? What is normal - is there a normal??

 

[misslys15]

Your five pullets probably won't all start laying at the same time, especially if they're not the same breed. I have 6 the same age at the moment. I've got the first egg from one of them mid June, and she's only laid one since. Another one started laying last week and has laid three eggs so far. One of them laid an egg with no shell this morning. It's different for all chickens.

I have three one year old hens, and they all started laying within a month or so of each other. I would say, in my experience, it takes at least a month for them to start laying regularly. However, only the first few eggs from any of my hens were weird; it just took them a while to lay as often as they should. It's completely normal for hens to lay unusual eggs the first few times. You might get small eggs, eggs with no yolk, eggs with soft shells, eggs with no shells, eggs with remnants of an unformed old egg on the shell. The more they lay, the more their bodies get used to it, and the more they will lay normal eggs.

"Normal" eggs depend on the breed. Golden Comets are supposed to lay XL dark brown eggs about 5-6 times a week, whereas Rhode Island Reds might lay large brown eggs 4-5 times a week. "Normal" depends on what breed it is, so look into what size and color the egg should be for your breed and how often they should lay. Healthy chickens will lay eggs with a proper shape (oval and larger on one end) and a hard shell. Shell color and yolk color can also vary depending on the diet of the chickens (free range vs feed). Ideally, it will be one solid color without bumps (calcium deposits).

Of course, no hen is perfect. Every once in a while, even after your hens are laying normally and regularly, you will get an egg with a defect. Usually they are harmless and still completely edible; they are just aesthetically displeasing for one reason or another. Sometimes inside the shell there will be a red spot called a blood spot or a meat spot, just a piece of blood/tissue that got caught in the egg during formation. They're completely safe to eat, but a lot of people see it and refuse to eat it.

Here's a link to common egg defects:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/common-egg-quality-problems

So, every chicken is different. The only thing that will make your chickens lay regularly is time. Your situation is completely normal.