First egg, and hens in nesting box looking like they’re laying, but it’s night time. Also is two nesting boxes enough?

[KTay11]

Hello! First time chicken owner here so sorry if this seems dumb.
So I have 5 hens, 16 or so weeks old. I got my first egg today, and from my Easter egger! I didn’t see it until evening because it was so hot I let them out this morning and then waited to scoop until it cooled off a bit (it didn’t) but i just only unblocked my nesting boxes this past Friday and put the decoy in. So I’ve been trying to get into a habit of checking. So anyway. I forgot to check and seen it this evening when cleaning.
When I went out to close the coop door, I noticed two of my chickens (the Easter egger that layed the first small egg, and one of my australorps) in the nesting boxes, looking like they were trying to lay eggs.. it’s 10:30pm…this seems weird, isnt it?
Also, I have two nesting boxes. Is this enough for the 5 of them? What if they all need to lay at the same time? Lol
TIA.

 

[Chicken_tiger_catt]

Hello! First time chicken owner here so sorry if this seems dumb.
So I have 5 hens, 16 or so weeks old. I got my first egg today, and from my Easter egger! I didn’t see it until evening because it was so hot I let them out this morning and then waited to scoop until it cooled off a bit (it didn’t) but i just only unblocked my nesting boxes this past Friday and put the decoy in. So I’ve been trying to get into a habit of checking. So anyway. I forgot to check and seen it this evening when cleaning.
When I went out to close the coop door, I noticed two of my chickens (the Easter egger that layed the first small egg, and one of my australorps) in the nesting boxes, looking like they were trying to lay eggs.. it’s 10:30pm…this seems weird, isnt it?
Also, I have two nesting boxes. Is this enough for the 5 of them? What if they all need to lay at the same time? Lol
TIA.

they might be sleeping there, or they might just be stupid and not know the difference between a.m. and p.m. it should be ok, as long as they don't start eating eggs or something crazy.

 

[NatJ]

I have two nesting boxes. Is this enough for the 5 of them? What if they all need to lay at the same time? Lol

Two nesting boxes should be plenty.

They will probably choose one box as the favorite, and all take turns in there, but having the second one is good because they can use if if they want to.

Actually laying an egg takes just a few minutes, so you don't really need to worry about them all needing to lay at the same time. They might like to sit around for a while and be comfy, but chickens usually manage to take turns well enough. They also have the ability to wait for a little while before laying the egg, if they want the favorite box and someone else is using it.

 

[rosemarythyme]

2 boxes is fine.

Unusual if they're trying to lay so late at night (I assume it's fully dark in there?) but since they're new layers they might've been caught trying to lay and ended up stuck in the nests at night if they can't see well enough to make it to the roost. Have they have been roosting reliably before this point?