I thought chickens laid the same time each day??

[The Kibble Goddess]

Am I wrong? One of my pullets just started laying and I might get an egg around 10, or noon, or 3 in the afternoon. I found yesterday's egg at noon and it was cool. Today I found the egg at 3:30 and it was still warm from the hen. This is wreaking havoc with their time out in the yard. I don't want to let them range till they've laid, but want to let them out as much as possible. I have a 1/2 acre yard with lots of shrubbery and don't want to have to hunt for eggs (I'll never find them!). Can you get chickens on a laying schedule?

 

[terrilhb]

I thought the same thing. But I was wrong. Sometimes mine might lay early and other days they stagger their laying. Sorry I am not more help. But at least we are in the same boat

 

[booker81]

No schedule

I heard a ruckus last night about 7pm, and went and checked, sure enough, someone had laid an egg and everyone had to sound off the egg song.

 

[feathersnuggles]

A day has 24 hours, but a hen's egg-laying cycle is about 26 hours. You are seeing something normal, when the egg is laid a little later each day. At some point, when the egg is due to be laid late in the day, a hen will often hold her egg overnight, laying early the following day. I have one hen that takes approximately 30 hours between eggs.

You can't get them on an precise and predictable schedule, due to the egg cycle being longer than a day. However, I've found that my hens want to come back to the coop to lay their eggs, even when they are free-ranging. I don't let them out until around 10am each day. We're on year 2, and so far it's been working great. I only found one egg laid in the yard - under a maple tree last summer. And, that day we had a contractor doing some noisy work. The hens were afraid.

 

[dahlia333]

I learned that they lay every 34 hours.

 

[palochknldy]

On the days that our girls are out all day, they still come back to the coop to lay and then go back out and play. A happy hen is a laying hen, better to let them be outside as much as possible then cooped up.