Egg laying in the evening!

[bigmommy]

Well, my little Silkie started laying her eggs finally. In the middle of winter. Wherever she happens to be. No matter how deep the snow is, or how cold. I can overlook the time I have spent in boots and mittens hunting eggs.....if she would stop laying them so late! Every day she lays an egg...In the afternoon! Is there a way to get her to lay them in the morning? Right now it's ALWAYS after 3, and usually after 5 when she leaves me her little pink gifts.

 

[sewincircle]

I believe they have a 25-27 hour egg cycle. So it should change itself. I am not an expert though. Mine usually lay in the morning but it changes as there cycle is more hours than a day. You could try leaving her in the coop around the time she is due to lay so she learns to use the nesting box. Egg hunting is NOT fun in the winter. Good luck! jeanmarie

 

[msgenie516]

Hi,

I don't have any real solution for this but I believe it takes a little more than 24 hours for a hen to produce an egg, so eventually she should start laying in the morning. But then the cycle starts all over again.

I have one RIR that laid an egg after 8:15 PM last night. I don't know exactly what time it was but I checked the coop at 8:15 and she was sitting there trying to lay. I went out again at 9:15 and the egg was there.

I think the problem in my case is a very low wattage bulb I have on in one end of the coop that I left there just to show them how to get back in at night. I did that because one night, the bulb went out and all of the chickens were lined up at the opening to the coop but wouldn't come in. I feel they would have stayed there all night if I hadn't fixed the light and "shooed" them in.

It is so dark in there that you can barely see where their "laying nest" (they have all chosen the same nest) is located. But I guess that it's still too much light and eventually they will have to learn to go back into the coop before it gets too dark for them to see. And then I can get rid of the light and hopefully, there won't be any more late night egg layers.

Good luck! Genie