collecting eggs

[Sunshine Chick 1]

I have had chickens for two years now and have always collected in late afternoon when I went out to feed my other animals. I would get a broken one maybe every 2 or 3 months. Well they have started to lay again since it warmed up here in Florida and I have been getting more and more broken eggs. I was reading in book about chickens that you should collect eggs a couple times a day. I was wonder how often most people collect and when do they collect? should I be collecting more than once a day. I only have 42 hens, and am getting a dozen a day right now. I have 18 that won't be old enough to lay till April. Thanks and have a GREAT week.

 

[Dogfish]

Only a dozen a day? We have 13 hens and generally run 10-13 eggs a day. I've only had a few broken eggs, maybe 5, in the past year. A rollout nest box works well for some of our birds, and others decided they want to lay on the floor of the coop (deep litter), and in a separate introduction pen.

How many nest boxes do you have? You should probably have 8-10 spots for them to lay. I only collect once a day, in teh evening when I get home from work.

 

[Pinky]

I used to collect my eggs in the morning and in the afternoon. Now I only check in the morning and get someone else to check them in the afternoon when I am not home.

 

[Teach97]

I usually only collect in the afternoon

 

[Jesseschickens]

you have broken egg eaters come along with broken eggs and with that many hens egg eati ng is gonna spread fast

 

[J.Pryce]

I check at lunchtime when I come home, & then at the end of my work day. On the weekends I'll check only once mid to late day.

 

[journey11]

Sounds like egg eaters to me. I have 31 pullets laying about 24 eggs a day right now (on 3 hours supplemental light).

They'll break one on accident initially, then they'll curiously have a taste, find out they're delicious, then they'll start breaking them on purpose! Usually they will eat the whole egg, shell and all. IMO, it's a hard habit to stop. You'd be out quite a bit of money culling a flock that size (which is how some people would choose to handle it), so I would recommend you get a roll out nest or collect eggs at least 3 times a day. Usually I find my girls are done laying somewhere between 3pm and 5pm. Most eggs are laid early in the morning.

 

[Sunshine Chick 1]

Thanks for the info. I have two coops with that many hens. I usually collect around 4ish. I work out of my home so I am home during the day. I have 8 nesting boxes in the one and 6 in the other, but most of the time they lay on the floor of the coops. I think I need to collect more often especially when they are all laying.

 

[bigoakhunter]

Morning and evening, always. If I am around during the day, then at least one other time

 

[mkearsley]

I've only got four girls, two of which are laying. I usually check in the morning when I put my dog out, then again in the evening when I get home from work. If there's no eggs either of those times, I'll check at night when I bring the dog in. I've only had one broken egg, but that is because the silly girls kicked/pushed it out into their run & it froze overnight & expanded & cracked. The dog absolutely loved the "ice cream" he got when I found the egg!