EGG-specting

[crazyoillady]

Hi everyone, I am new to chicken raising, and have a couple questions..
1) what is the average age a hen will begin to lay?
2) how often do they lay?
3) How long after you stop the medicated feed, can you begin to eat the eggs?
I have 4 hens, 1 White leghorn,3 Rhode Island Reds..
They are 4 months old, and one of my girls, started laying 2 days ago. She laid 3 the first day, one the second day, and none today. Is this a normal thing?
Thanks for all your help..

 

[pertnear09]

She's getting help from someone. Chickens lay only 1 egg every 25 hours at the most. You have some friends who may be pulling a joke on you?

 

[cluckmecoop7]

More than one chicken is doing this. Also, they lay a egg every 26 hours. The average when egg laying starts can range a long way. But I'd say around 18 to 24 weeks. Maybe even longer.

 

[TwoChicksChix]

1. Hens begin to lay around 18-24 weeks but some can start as early as 16, though it isn't common.
2. A chicken will lay an egg every 25-26 hours, so it will lay about an hour later than it did the day before, once it gets to too late, it will reset and skip a day of laying.
3. Technically you can eat eggs even with medicated feed, but at this point they should really be on layers feed, to increased the calcium and such.

What color are the eggs that they are laying? Any white eggs are being laid by your leghorn. The beige to brown eggs are being laid by the Rhode Island Reds.