Eggs per Day for New Layers

[DrRocco]

I received my day-old chicks back in June. Between then and now I, like most other first-time chicken owners, have been watching the calendar and cruising the forums, desperately searching for that one encouraging post that says, "Everyone else is wrong. YOUR hens will start laying at 9 weeks old" Obviously, I never found it.

I've also spent a lot of time trying to figure out how many eggs I should expect once the hens did start laying. Of course, "it varies" is the correct answer. I guess all I was ever really looking for was an accurate accounting of some hens' egg laying. With that in mind, and in order to quench my own thirst for data, I've been recording my egg totals since my hens started laying.

I have 9 hens, 5 Buff Orpingtons and 4 Australorps. I have a light in the coop on a timer so that they get about 16 hours of light per day. They get layer feed along with whatever table scraps are mainly protein. On my tracking calendar, the bold number on the left is the age of the chickens in weeks. I got my first egg on November 10th. The rest is fairly obvious. Each day shows the total eggs found that day. The end of each week displays that week's total. The monthly total is shown at the top, next to the month name.

Hopefully, this serves some use for you. I update it almost daily, so check back if you're curious about our progress.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Tcp7N2PgKQLYfaE5cKGGew_0Pntue78lzuW7rMcCfy8/edit?usp=sharing

 

[aart]

I've got a spreadsheet too for the pullets, each one has it's own column with week of onset of lay, date goes along far left column........I weigh them too and record who lays what weight each day .

I don't do any totals for the pullets (that's another worksheet) just looking at patterns of prolificacy and when are they ever going to get some size to them!

It's interesting. As you can see Henny is awesome, Wilma is slacker and the others do fine.

 

[mattsanity]

I'm still waiting on first eggs, but I love the data! I'm a nerd for statistics and can't wait until I have my own spreadsheet. Also cool to see new layers can produce somewhat regularly this late in the year. Keeps hope alive for me, so to speak.

 

[aart]

I'm still waiting on first eggs, but I love the data! I'm a nerd for statistics and can't wait until I have my own spreadsheet. Also cool to see new layers can produce somewhat regularly this late in the year. Keeps hope alive for me, so to speak.

I do use supplemental lighting.

 

[LakeMomNY]

Just chiming in to say that I am getting 5-7 eggs/day from my new layers with NO supplemental lighting.

2 barred rocks
3 Rhode Island reds
3 buff orpingtons (one still not laying)

 

[aart]

Just chiming in to say that I am getting 5-7 eggs/day from my new layers with NO supplemental lighting.

2 barred rocks
3 Rhode Island reds
3 buff orpingtons (one still not laying)

First year layers often lay thru winter with no extra light...older birds rarely do tho.

 

[DrRocco]

I do use supplemental lighting.

As do I. Originally, I had my light turning on just before dusk then turning off several hours later sometime in the night. I don't remember exactly where I read it, but that is the wrong way to do it. Using this timing, the chickens could just be pecking around then 'click' out go the lights, leaving them in the dark and not roosting. I've since switched to turning the lights on early in the morning, like 3:00 a.m. That way, they get the extra light they need to lay, but know it's time to roost when things gradually get dark in the evening.

 

[LakeMomNY]

First year layers often lay thru winter with no extra light...older birds rarely do tho.

Yes!

We are planning manage our flock on a 3 or 4 year cycle. New chicks each spring, old birds to the soup pot. Will decide based on production levels, coop space, feed costs when the time comes.

That way we we will have seasoned layers providing eggs when the new chicks are growing up, and the new layers will provide eggs in the winter.

Not the right system for everyone, certainly, but it meets our needs.

I was just chiming in about my hen's production without using lighting because others were commenting that they are using supplemental lighting with their new layers. If they could get very similar production without lights, it might be worth it to them to save the electricity for the first winter even if they choose to use lights in subsequent years.

 

[DrRocco]

I had considered this, but I just run one 60W bulb for a few hours/day. I ran the math on it and it costs me about $0.75 per month to do this, so I figured it's worth the cost. Maybe it will boost egg production a bit, maybe it won't. At any rate, I figured it gets the girls up and moving early in the morning so I can collect a few eggs before I leave for the day.

 

[lazy gardener]

I use a 7 watt CFL, and it provides plenty of light. You might want to cut your wattage, thus your electric bill! My girls get extra light 6:30 AM - 8:30 AM, and 3:30 PM - 8:30 PM. I've heard the stories about chickens getting caught off the roost by sudden lights out, but my girls are always on the roost before lights out. They know. (I don't know how, but they do!)