Afternoon layers

[monita]

i have 2 hens and both lay in the same nest at around 2pm every day. needless to say i sit and watch the race everyday to see who will get to the nest first.lol and while the winner is laying her egg the loser walks around the nest complaining very loudly until the first hen gets off the nest. every now and then it even ends up in a fight..lol it is quite funny to watch really.

 

[Jamsoundsgood]

I went out to get eggs at 6:30 tonight and there was still one in the nest. She usually is. Tonight she even stood up for me so I could check under her for eggs! She's never done that before. She probably just got sick of me "feeling her up" to find all the eggs from the others. I don't really worry about it. My four kids are all different, my 25 chickens are all different too.

 

[Tala]

I have a couple of the Leghorns that lay early, there's almost always 2 white eggs in the nest before I leave for work around 10am. They're pretty regular about it.
Queenie the red sexlink and the third Leghorn seem to lay later in the afternoon, although I can't say exactly when and they seem to vary more.

 

[CarolynPerth]

I keep mine in the run until 9am when most have laid then I let them out to free range. I have 6 hens (one may be a gender bender) and if I have 4 eggs laid in their boxes I let them out. Every now and then I find a clutch in an improvised nest under a bush in the garden and I just fed those to the dog as I have no idea how long they have been setting or which bird laid them.

 

[captainmoose]

Mine lay at different times, some lay early morning and some late afternoon. My granddaughter collects the eggs before school and again when she gets home.

 

[cactus-hen]

Occasionally I will find an egg on the ground under the roosts in the morning. Seems that when an eggs arrives it arrives no matter where the hen is.

 

[HowlinWolfVexx]

Thank you for all the replies! Glad to know that it's not abnormal. I'm definitely going to try and annoy hubby into putting a light in, but expect eggs whenever they feel like getting around to it

They are about 7 months old now and unless we get that light in, they will slow down for winter SOON. Fortunately they're still going at about one a day each and whoever lays the lighter eggs likes to skip a day every week.

 

[sillyaboutchickens]

We have two that just started to lay. One lays in the morning (late) and has layed in the afternoon too - around 3:30pm. The other one layed her first egg in the late morning. It will be interesting to see if they "adjust their schedules". I am laughing at some advice I read about not letting the chickens out of the coop until late morning so they "learn to use the nesting boxes". At this rate, the chickens would never get out! Luckily, both girls seem to prefer laying in the coop and although they aren't using the nesting boxes, they have consistently returned to the coop to lay.