General egglaying question.

[Waddell85]

I have 10 hens and they started laying about a month ago. So far they are big, small, rough, smooth abnormally shaped and lots of double yolkers. So far I've been really lucky and they go back in their coop to lay! They free range from dusk till dawn. The last three days we have been getting between 7 to 9 eggs a day! This just seems like a lot to me for only 10 hens??? Also this morning I let them out and collected 5 eggs then while I was doing yard work one of my hens went back into the coop. A little later I went in and there were 2 eggs in the nest she had been in. Is that even possible or did a hen sneak in there that I missed?

 

[spikennipper]

Each hen should lay 1 egg per day once they reach laying age, if you have 10 hens you should be getting 10 eggs per day, sometimes they miss a day in their laying cycles, no hens I have ever owned have laid more than 1 egg per day or any other bird for that matter, although I have heard reports of other peoples hens doing this, chances are another hen snuck in to lay.

 

[Capvin]

As said above most hens will lay almost one egg per day. So, once they are laying regular you should be getting about 9 eggs per day and sometimes 10. Since your birds free range you will need to check around to be sure that a hen or two has not found a nest outside the coop and is depositing her eggs there. It has happened many times before and people are wondering why they are getting so few eggs when they discover a hidden nest with ten old eggs in it.