Do chickens ever lay eggs at night?

[fowlwoman1]

I have a beloved neighbor who accused me of "working banker's hours" instead of collecting the eggs every morning at 6am so that I could have a fresh egg breakfast. I told him that if I went out at 6am there wouldn't be any eggs to gather. He said that I haven't "trained" my "chickens right". He says, "what you're supposed to do is shut them up in their coop at night with their food and in the night they sit in the nests and lay their eggs". I said, "have you ever had chickens before?" and he said that he had when he was growing up on a farm. I figured that he probably didn't get the whole picture of what was happening there. I grew up on this exact farm I am living on right now, and since having to run it myself, there is a lot I thought I knew before, but that wasn't completely accurate. I love my neighbor as myself, so I'm trying to see if there could be any truth to what he remembers from his childhood about hens laying their eggs at night.

 

[tx_dane_mom]

LOL...It just cracks me up that you say yu love your neighbor as you love yourself after he told you you weren't doing your job right!

Anyhow, my chickens always tend to lay around 10 a.m. give or take some time. My ducks however, have me convinced that they DO lay at night....they do definately lay while I am sleeping, that's for sure b/c if I go out there @ 7 am, there's eggs....
HTH,
Kristi

 

[jessica117]

My hens tend to lay whenever the mood strikes

I have a couple that lay first thing in the morning, a few that lay around 10 or eleven, and there is one in particular that only lays until about 3 in the afternoon. I don't think anybody lays at night.

I'd say he was collecting either the eggs that were layed right at dawn, or they were the eggs from the previous day (that didn't get collected cause they went out to get them at 6 am.)

Mine also wouldn't dream of sleeping in their nesting boxes. They much prefer to sleep on the tops of the boxes.

 

[silkiechicken]

Mine lay whenever, usually between noon and like 5pm.

Good to hear you get along with your neighbors though!

 

[QueenieBee]

Mine lay from 10:00 am until about 3:00 pm. At night they are fast asleep on their roosts. Mine would never sleep in their nest boxes either.

 

[Bawkadoodledoo]

whenever i ask people here if they have ever had chickens they say "I grew up on a farm and had chickens oh i don't remember their colors." makes it seem like a generic response to that question.

 

[Farmer Kitty]

When mine first started they some were laying before 4:30 a.m. when I got out to their coop but, now I only get a couple eggs before 6 a.m. and the rest are usually done by 11 a.m.

 

[Ericasl]

Mine also lay from about 10am-6pm sometimes they do not start till noon, mine would never sleep in the nest boxes either.

 

[newchickmom]

I go out to the coup in the morning to open up the coop door, between 6am and 7am and very seldom has anyone laid an egg yet. I collect mine when I get home from work and when I go out to close the hen house at night and almost everyone is on their roosts by then.

 

[wynedot55]

man i wish that was true,then would only have to get eggs once a day.it takes the hens 22 to 25 hrs to get an egg ready to lay.thus causing them to lay thoughout the day.an not just in the mornings or evenings.