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

[OHMYCHICKIES]

I think mine have realized that they just have to wait for the other. I've got 12 hens and 4 boxes, many times I see it all full and I hear all sorts of squawking because the other one is waiting. One hen, only lays on the porch, she holds it until I let them out of the coop. She basically flies to the porch and lays.

I've seen eggs early in the morning and early afternoon.

 

[Backyard Buddies]

Quote:
I completely understand. But, as I said, I have a small flock of only 3 girls. My girls are now 2 1/2 years old and hardly laying at all these days. Being city chickens and primarily pets, we can only have a few girls and won't be getting rid of them until the day they cross the rainbow bridge. So, while the rest of you get to drool over the catalogues while deciding what to order next spring to add to your flocks and while the hatchaholics have eggs in the 'bator and dream of their new offspring, little ol' me gets to obsess over the three that I have.

Besides, it's a lot more fun than it sounds!

 

[rirluvr]

Quote:
I completely understand. But, as I said, I have a small flock of only 3 girls. My girls are now 2 1/2 years old and hardly laying at all these days. Being city chickens and primarily pets, we can only have a few girls and won't be getting rid of them until the day they cross the rainbow bridge. So, while the rest of you get to drool over the catalogues while deciding what to order next spring to add to your flocks and while the hatchaholics have eggs in the 'bator and dream of their new offspring, little ol' me gets to obsess over the three that I have.

Besides, it's a lot more fun than it sounds!

wait a second here.. I too have 3 RIRs that I just got. Are you telling me that I won't be enjoying eggs for breakfast as promised by the hatchery? Mine are turning 4 months old in December and I need to get some eggs I am going egg crazy here. If these won't lay then this is the time to make some rotisserie chicken and I can order some of those white egg layers.

 

[theFox]

Quote:
I completely understand. But, as I said, I have a small flock of only 3 girls. My girls are now 2 1/2 years old and hardly laying at all these days. Being city chickens and primarily pets, we can only have a few girls and won't be getting rid of them until the day they cross the rainbow bridge. So, while the rest of you get to drool over the catalogues while deciding what to order next spring to add to your flocks and while the hatchaholics have eggs in the 'bator and dream of their new offspring, little ol' me gets to obsess over the three that I have.

Besides, it's a lot more fun than it sounds!

wait a second here.. I too have 3 RIRs that I just got. Are you telling me that I won't be enjoying eggs for breakfast as promised by the hatchery? Mine are turning 4 months old in December and I need to get some eggs I am going egg crazy here. If these won't lay then this is the time to make some rotisserie chicken and I can order some of those white egg layers.

Hahaha,

Those RIRs will lay when they get good and ready. After all they are supposed to be girls

 

[TurtleFeathers]

I read somewhere that a hen will lay an egg like every 27 to 36 hours (or something on the order of that timeframe) during their productive season. That would account for Backyard Buddies' chickens laying later and later each day and then skipping a day entirely.

But if a hen is on a cycle where she produces and lays an egg every, say 30 hours, how does one "train" her to lay at the same time every day? If her body is telling her that she's not ready to lay at 24 hours, she just isn't going to!!!

I say just let them do what comes natural to them - JMHO, of course.

 

[cposz]

I say take the eggs whenever you get them! Of our 4 layers, 3 lay in the morning and one in the late afternoon. At least that's been the trend in the last few weeks.

 

[Backyard Buddies]

Wow! This is an old thread! My last post, quoted above, states that my girls were 2 1/2. They're now 3 years, 8 months old. Yes, I'm still keeping the calendar on them, though there isn't much I'm doing towards it lately because they're either molting or on their usual break at the moment. The EE went 7 months without an egg last season so I'll be curious to see what she does this year. Although they've slowed considerably, they're still laying. One of the RIR's consistently lays every other day, usually around noon and with no additional days skipped. So, maybe she did eventually find a way to lay at the same time.

 

[ibpboo]

My EE does that, once she molts in the fall, she does not lay again until Feb or March. So that's about 5 months or so. Come spring again, she will be 8 years old.

 

[Backyard Buddies]

Quote:
Awww! How sweet! I HOPE my girl lives to be as old as yours.

She's my son's favorite and I dread the day she's no longer with us. How often does your EE lay once she starts back up again? Elsie was laying 3 - 4 eggs a week before her molt.

 

[Backyard Buddies]

Quote:
I completely understand. But, as I said, I have a small flock of only 3 girls. My girls are now 2 1/2 years old and hardly laying at all these days. Being city chickens and primarily pets, we can only have a few girls and won't be getting rid of them until the day they cross the rainbow bridge. So, while the rest of you get to drool over the catalogues while deciding what to order next spring to add to your flocks and while the hatchaholics have eggs in the 'bator and dream of their new offspring, little ol' me gets to obsess over the three that I have.

Besides, it's a lot more fun than it sounds!

wait a second here.. I too have 3 RIRs that I just got. Are you telling me that I won't be enjoying eggs for breakfast as promised by the hatchery? Mine are turning 4 months old in December and I need to get some eggs I am going egg crazy here. If these won't lay then this is the time to make some rotisserie chicken and I can order some of those white egg layers.

Oh, you'll get eggs and lots of them! RIR's are fabulous layers and such sweet girls. My girls were doing 6 - 7 eggs a week when they first began. My point was only that nearly all chickens take breaks from time to time, either due to molting, the time of the year, light needs, etc. At over 3.5 years, my girls are all still doing well and laying eggs, just not as often or as much as they did when they were in their first year of laying.