Do hens lay their eggs before a certain time of the day?

[ibpboo]

My RIR's started laying at about 6 months, they are now 6 years and still laying. Mine free range a lot and most of the time they do go back to the nest, but not always because I have found eggs under bushes etc. Here is a picture, the brown egg is the RIR egg. The first egg is green, from Easter egger and the last is from a silkie.

 

[dacjohns]

Nice sized eggs, especially that EE. Where's the banty egg?

 

[terrid856]

My hens have a coop that is INSIDE an enclosed 12'x12' aviary. I leave them in the enclosure until around noon then I open the door and let them free range. This usually gives enough time for laying. However the last 5 days my one hen has been laying in a cat house .
Each night I lock them in the enclosure but their coop door stays open always. This way I know their safe from predators while they sleep. I have 18 cats, 3 dogs, 2 pygmy goats and 7 rabbits. They all get along, its great

 

[ibpboo]

But aren't silkies banty?

 

[holliewould]

ibpoo, those eggs are nice. 6months seems like an eternity. I hope mine lay for at least 6 years. Bonus. How many eggs a week do you get from your 6yr olds?

I don't know if silkies are banty, I do know they look like a Jim Hansen character though. Cute and funny looking at the same time.

 

[the simple life]

They're banties.

 

[SpottedCrow]

Obelisk starts laying between 6 and 7:30 in the morning and the latest she ever laid was around 8 at night.
It's usually an hour later each day.

We only have Silkie bantams over here. But the UK has Standard sized ones.

ibpboo, Penny's eggs were tan, like the middle one.

 

[dacjohns]

Quote:
OK, learned something about Silkies. That's a nice sized egg.

 

[ibpboo]

Quote:
I get 2-3 eggs a day from my 4 six year old hens!

 

[Backyard Buddies]

Actually, there's no set time of day that a chicken lays an egg. It depends entirely on the chicken. I've kept a calendar on my girls since they were little.

The EE laid at 20 weeks, 5 days. The first RIR laid at 23 weeks, 6 days. The last RIR laid at 27 weeks.

The EE's eggs are the smallest, the last RIR's the largest. In each of their first year of laying, the EE laid 245 eggs, the RIRs 307 and 301 eggs.

At nearly 2 1/4 years old, I'm still getting between 14 - 17 eggs a week from the 3 of them. The EE lays 2 - 3 days in a row and rarely lays an egg past 1 in the afternoon. RIR2 lays 3 - 5 days in a row and rarely lays past 2 in the afternoon. RIR1 will lay as late as 4 pm and lays 4 - 6 days in a row. When they skip a day, their next egg is laid fairly early in the day, then they lay later in the day each day until they hit their individual time when they won't lay beyond. Then they skip a day and start all over again.

It's kind of fun watching their little patterns. Knowing their patterns helps me know when it's safe to let them out for the day. If I know I'm expecting a couple of early layers, I'll wait to let them out. Otherwise, I just listen for them to make their "I need to lay an egg" whine and I walk the whiner back to the coop. I'm not sure who has who trained.