Chickens laying eggs at night?

[Primrose135]

Lately, one or more of my chickens have been laying eggs at night. At first, I let it slide, because I figured it was just them getting used to laying again after molting, but I have been finding one almost every day when I go to let them out in the morning. In, the beginning, we just thought that it had been pushed out of the nest because sometimes they are on the floor, but mostly we find them directly under where they roost all the way across the coop. Some have very little shell while others would have probably been fine if they had been laid in the nest. I have tried feeding oyster shells, but that hasn't done much. Is something wrong with my hens?

 

[TheChips]

2/3 of my Isa Browns are on the same nightly shift. But also new to laying.
In my own personal opinion they can just be on a different shift right now.

 

[chickenboy190]

One of my chickens lays at night too!

 

[Aacre]

From my understanding, most chickens are on a 24 hour schedule. They will lay an egg every 24 hours, and sometimes, night time is just their hour..

 

[alicarthen]

Since chickens don't have very good night vision, and sometimes they lay an egg at night, should I have a "nite light' in their coop so they can find their way back and forth from the roost to the nesting box and, hopefully back, as I don't really want them sleeping in the nesting box because they will make a mess of it....any thoughts on this?

 

[cstronks]

Strange. My birds never come off the roost past dusk until dawn. Is this egg just coming really, really early in the morning?? On some occasions, I have gone out very early in the morning (5:30 am) and caught a chicken or two in the box. Normally my chickens do not lay before 6:30, but every once in a while I get an "early bird".

 

[Blooie]

In the thread about poop boards lots of folks talk about having the boards close enough to the roost to catch "late night layers" so your situation most likely isn't an unusual one.

 

[TheChips]

I have a little press night light that I installed in their nesting box on the inside of their coop. I push it on at night before I close them in for bed. I keep my chickens in a shed with their coop and other things for them inside. That way when they are on nighttime laying schedules (like this week) they can see where they are walking.

Also solar garden lights are useful and you don't need to waste batteries. As we all know how expensive they are. I have bought a few solar garden lights from Target in their small garden area. Charge them in the day, and put them around the coop at night. It looks like as if you have a childs nightlight on. Not too bright to disturb their sleep