How much daylight do chickens need to lay.

[Danny188]

I have 3 pullets/hens they are 17-18 week old the breeds are red sex link, sapire gem and astrolorp(i know they dont lay very soon). But the sapire gem and sex link should be laying soon so i was wondering how much sunlight they need evry day to keep laying. Im a lazy teen and its summer so im not interested at getting up at 5:30 to make the sunrise i have been getting up at 8: to take them out in the moring and 8:30 in the evning so they are getting 12h 30m of light.

Edit: not shur exactly on the ages but they are around 17-19 weeks they have calcium free choice.

 

[Danny188]

Pics

 

[aart]

Are there windows in the coop?
As long as it's not pitch dark in coop they should be fine with your 8am wake up call.

 

[Danny188]

Are there windows in the coop?
As long as it's not pitch dark in coop they should be fine with your 8am wake up call.

Yes we do but our coop is on the inside of a barn that has windows so its still pretty dark but school will start in two weeks so ill be up at sunrise.

 

[aart]

I wouldn't worry about it.
Many pullets will lay all thru their first winter without supplemental lighting(which is a whole other topic).

 

[Danny188]

I wouldn't worry about it.
Many pullets will lay all thru their first winter without supplemental lighting(which is a whole other topic).

Yup our grey one just laid her first egg do i have to let it cool in the fridge befor i can eat it? And also i found it on the coop floor not in the nest box she was preparing could it have gotton nocked out?

 

[aart]

Yup our grey one just laid her first egg do i have to let it cool in the fridge befor i can eat it? And also i found it on the coop floor not in the nest box she was preparing could it have gotton nocked out?

You don't need to cool the egg before eating it.....I keep my eggs on the counter.
It may have gotten knocked out or laid on the floor make sure there's a good 4-6" lip on the front of the nest to keep bedding and eggs(both real and fake) inside.

New layers can be quite goofy acting, they don't know what they are doing at first and can be confused and anxious, it can take up to a month or so before they get it all figured out. Putting some fake eggs or golf balls in the nest might help show them where to lay. They may scratch around in the nests for weeks before laying, spreading the bedding everywhere. They will scratch around a bit less in nest as they get used to the routine. Meanwhile, eggs everywhere, some of them can be rather funky looking, soft or thin shelled, huge double yolked eggs.