I bought 3 Leghorns and 3 Rhode island Reds from Tractor Supply and theyre my best layers and have large egg's. My 2 Buff Orphingtons and 2 Barred Rocks are off and on with small eggs.
Do people lie about how many eggs they get??
- Thread starter Minky
- Start date
Slatkovic1
Hatching
- Mar 25, 2020
- 2
- 8
- 8
I have 2 Wyandotte’s and get an egg a day maybe once a week only I get one! Lol
JonJacobJinglHimerSchmit
In the Brooder
- Dec 10, 2017
- 5
- 8
- 24
We often wondered that as well we free range and we don't get nearly an egg a day from our 16 hens. What we do get is lots of fun Easter egg hunts all the time. They don't like to lay in the coop for some reason so they find their own little space to lay eggs. So the reality is we probably do get close to an egg a day it's just that we can't find them until later. Sometimes when we do find them they have already been broken eaten or crushed so obviously they are of no use to us. At the moment we are getting about 9 eggs a day that we can find out of 16.
We have 63 hens and we average 50 eggs per day. We have gotten as high as 55 and during the winter I had to have pep talks with the girls because production slowed to a crawl.
We have the following breeds:
3 Black French Copper Marans usually 2 per day
10 Barred Rocks usually 8 per day
8 Buff Orpingtons usually 6 per day
6 Brown Leghorns usually 5 per day
26 Easter Eggers usually 21 per day
5 Cinnamon Queens usually 4 per day
5 New Hampshire usually 4 per day
I guess we are just lucky that our girls stay productive 10 months out of the year. We don't use supplemental lighting, they need the rest.
We have the following breeds:
3 Black French Copper Marans usually 2 per day
10 Barred Rocks usually 8 per day
8 Buff Orpingtons usually 6 per day
6 Brown Leghorns usually 5 per day
26 Easter Eggers usually 21 per day
5 Cinnamon Queens usually 4 per day
5 New Hampshire usually 4 per day
I guess we are just lucky that our girls stay productive 10 months out of the year. We don't use supplemental lighting, they need the rest.
RumneyRoost
Songster
Really just depends on the birds. My 1yo red sexlink and white leghorn have laid an egg a day since they started.
My 1yo Easter Egger and barred rock and my 2yo cream leg bar lay every day or every other day. The 2yo didn’t lay for about two months over the winter.
My 3yo speckled Sussex lays every other day, she didn’t lay for about four months over the winter.
Chickens will only lay a certain number of eggs over their lifetime. And it’s hard work. If egg production is your goal than you will need supplemental light and be prepared to replace your girls every year or two.
Mine are pets. The eggs are just a bonus.
My 1yo Easter Egger and barred rock and my 2yo cream leg bar lay every day or every other day. The 2yo didn’t lay for about two months over the winter.
My 3yo speckled Sussex lays every other day, she didn’t lay for about four months over the winter.
Chickens will only lay a certain number of eggs over their lifetime. And it’s hard work. If egg production is your goal than you will need supplemental light and be prepared to replace your girls every year or two.
Mine are pets. The eggs are just a bonus.
Last edited:
Nebraska islander
Chirping
- Sep 11, 2018
- 13
- 15
- 53
I was told by several old timers who helped me start my flock, "every hen has an egg developing and wants to lay a egg EVERY DAY", if you find the happy medium of light, temperature and a place easily accessible and they like to lay in you can succeed even thru winter. You can't be afraid to try something different or against the grain. Every breed reacts different to it's environment.
I have a coop made from 16ft old insulated garage door sections that were slightly damaged but still stackable and able to provide a 6.5 R value to retain heat. I use a milk house heater(@night timer only)and heat lamp accordingly to night temps in winter. We have LED lights run 24 hrs inside.
I will run a red heat lamp pointed over a 4x8 deep litter method roosting box/bars on one end raised above rest of coop during days it doesn't get above 40 outside. They fill the box with eggs every day scratching the hemp bedding around, makes a warm area to lay eggs a. Out of 40+ hens(americauna, cochins, ameri-cochin mix I hatched out and some polish and few rare other types of muppet headed feather footed chickens) we pick up around 2 dozen eggs in deep winter and 36 to 40 eggs when above 50 during day. There are different foods for layers that do influence egg production but they usually cost too much for me unless they go on sale or are discounting due to shelf exp.then I will grab as many as I can . Some can remarkably influence your egg production in dead of winter so don't be shy to try some to see what works and what doesn't.
I want my hens to support their food thru local egg sales to pay for food they eat. Self sufficient chickens. Wish they'd pay my time to clean and water/feed them but don't see that happening anytime soon. It's joy of knowing where your food comes from and helping others aquire same confidence of what goes on their body. They graze on grass and weeds during growing seasons but winter u have to up supplement more. Find what works for your chickens! It's not a cookie cutter operation, remember the old timer "Every hen needs to lay a egg a day" !
You just have to find out what environment makes them do that.
I have a coop made from 16ft old insulated garage door sections that were slightly damaged but still stackable and able to provide a 6.5 R value to retain heat. I use a milk house heater(@night timer only)and heat lamp accordingly to night temps in winter. We have LED lights run 24 hrs inside.
I will run a red heat lamp pointed over a 4x8 deep litter method roosting box/bars on one end raised above rest of coop during days it doesn't get above 40 outside. They fill the box with eggs every day scratching the hemp bedding around, makes a warm area to lay eggs a. Out of 40+ hens(americauna, cochins, ameri-cochin mix I hatched out and some polish and few rare other types of muppet headed feather footed chickens) we pick up around 2 dozen eggs in deep winter and 36 to 40 eggs when above 50 during day. There are different foods for layers that do influence egg production but they usually cost too much for me unless they go on sale or are discounting due to shelf exp.then I will grab as many as I can . Some can remarkably influence your egg production in dead of winter so don't be shy to try some to see what works and what doesn't.
I want my hens to support their food thru local egg sales to pay for food they eat. Self sufficient chickens. Wish they'd pay my time to clean and water/feed them but don't see that happening anytime soon. It's joy of knowing where your food comes from and helping others aquire same confidence of what goes on their body. They graze on grass and weeds during growing seasons but winter u have to up supplement more. Find what works for your chickens! It's not a cookie cutter operation, remember the old timer "Every hen needs to lay a egg a day" !
You just have to find out what environment makes them do that.
jakedaniel
Chirping
- Apr 4, 2020
- 41
- 85
- 66
It’s all about breed and conditions. If your flock consisted of nothing but Ideal 236 and Production Reds you’d be getting an egg a day from all of them pretty much because, God bless ‘em, they’re little egg-laying machines
WhiteWaterLady
Chirping
- Mar 20, 2020
- 72
- 272
- 73
I have been "accused" by the local feed store operator of getting pretty close to an egg a day from my layers at the same his are/were "shut down" for the winter, and he has lights in his coop. The meat breeds don't give me as many, but even they give me about 3 eggs a week, on average.
I don't light my coops, but built them with clear roofs so the chickens get as much benefit as possible from the sun. The clear roofs also keep the coops a lot warmer during the winter. You can see pictures and a discussion of my "Chicken Coop Learning Curve" here: https://eclecticmusings.blog/2020/03/29/chicken-coop-learning-curve/
I also feed my chickens layer mash at 18% protein, kitchen scraps from my kitchen as well as customers, and a "scratch" mix for game birds that's lower protein but they WAY prefer it to the layer mash. My birds also free-range, but in the winter, I don't think they get much to eat that way - except when I put them in the garden to work straw and garden remnants into the ground and fertilize for spring.
I don't light my coops, but built them with clear roofs so the chickens get as much benefit as possible from the sun. The clear roofs also keep the coops a lot warmer during the winter. You can see pictures and a discussion of my "Chicken Coop Learning Curve" here: https://eclecticmusings.blog/2020/03/29/chicken-coop-learning-curve/
I also feed my chickens layer mash at 18% protein, kitchen scraps from my kitchen as well as customers, and a "scratch" mix for game birds that's lower protein but they WAY prefer it to the layer mash. My birds also free-range, but in the winter, I don't think they get much to eat that way - except when I put them in the garden to work straw and garden remnants into the ground and fertilize for spring.
My best winter layers were leghorn, and blue isbar, and they didn't even have to be young.
You are doing well. I have 14 and the most I get is 6 a day. Some are older and retired. In January, some days I got 1.
Similar threads
New posts New threads Active threads
-
Threads with more replies in the last 15 days
-
-
Open Contest 2026 BYC Calendar Photo Contest - We Need Your Pictures!
- Started by casportpony
- Replies: 119
-
-
Ended Official BYC Poultry Caption Contest 05-02-25 Pic by My Very First 6 Chickens- Started by TwoCrows
- Replies: 59
-
-
