How long is the span between each egg for RIR's?

[tweetzone86]

Hello all!

I was curious- about how long in hours is the timespan from egg to egg for RIR's? I know they're a high laying breed (hence part of the reason why I went with RIR's, in addition to cold/heat hardy, dual-purpose, and large brown egg layers. Plus I think they're gorgeous birds ).

I'm just wondering because I have gotten an egg every day from my first layer for nearly two weeks (only had 1 laying, then two, then three, now 5 so I know she's laid every day. Not sure which layer she is specifically just all known layers have laid every day since they started doing so because it matches the number of eggs I've gotten each day). I'm also wondering because I'm going out there several times a day, especially in the early morning because it's been so cold (hard freezes- yesterday morning it was only 29 degrees and my shed is insulated but unheated), and I've been tracking what time I collect them so if I can find out the approximate timespan from egg to egg it will help me have an idea of when to go check I've been getting eggs from about 7:30-8 am to about 4:30-5:30 in the afternoon-ish* (*I say ish because I have afternoon physical therapy appointments on Wed and Fri each week to get me ready for surgery in Nov so I check when I get back).

Thanks!

PS- I'm supplemental lighting so they get about 14.5 hours of daylight approx.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

RIR have an average of 3-5 eggs a week. Production will go up and down based on time of year and age of bird. An egg takes 24-26 hours to make, so you can't get more than 1 egg a day, though some claim otherwise at times.

 

[Capoken]

I have 4 RIR and I get 4 eggs most days and 3 eggs on others. 24 per week or more, but my birds are young. I expect fewer as they age....

 

[snow5164]

Checking them so often could be disturbing the process, look for seedling mats they fit in nesting boxes to prevent freezing . If you don’t have electricity fill the boxes with straw ...

My Rhode Island Reds we’re not great layers, 3-4 a week , hearty heritage birds and beautiful to look at , but I sold them .

 

[tweetzone86]

Thanks for the tip I put 3" of straw in there

 

[aart]

I was curious- about how long in hours is the timespan from egg to egg for RIR's?

This goes for any breed:
It takes about 25 hours for an egg to form, a new ova is released shortly after an egg is laid.
A new egg could be laid approximately every 25-26 hours, so an hour or so later every day until one is laid late in the day and another ova might not be released until the following day, so a day off. BUT..very hen is different and only time will tell what a particular hen/pullets schedule might be. Not every hen/pullet lays every day..some only lay a few a week.

@jthornton has some very specific data on RIR laying.

 

[jthornton]

I've been tracking my 9 RIR hens for over a year. They had at least 14 hours a day of light up till about a month ago and after some pondering I decided that a heritage breed did not need 14 hours of light 365 a year as they are not bred for that like production layers are. Having said that I will give them an early start on light starting Nov 23 and ramp up to 14 hours a day at the rate of 5 minutes a day.

Each bird is different, I have one that lays once a month or so and many that lay every day and some that skip a day. Some lay the egg then run out of the nest box, some stay in for a while and one tries to eat them... and lately I have one that lays an egg before dawn from the roost with the expected result of splat. And when they could see the eggs under the divider some would pull them back and try to keep the egg in sight. Mine lay at different times of the day up to sundown on the rare occasion.

My egg study is here. I'm glad you said large eggs as that is the average size for RIR hens once they mature even if the local farm store says extra large to jumbo eggs lol. If you look at the charts once the pullets all were laying the percentage was pretty hight but has fallen back to a mid 70's percentage. I'm sure that would be better with out the lazy one lol and perhaps different on a larger scale.

My next birds will be Cinnamon Queens which lay at a higher rate than RIR's.

JT