Laying eggs at night?

[Ryooki]

Has anyone see chickens lay eggs at night? I check on my chickens in the evening because one of my silkies likes to roost in a nesting box, and I stick her in a roost every night. I check for eggs at the same time, and I gathered the 2 eggs I saw. This morning, I went to check on the chickens, and I found another bantam egg!

I checked the chicken cam, and it caught of my silkies (not the scared one) walking around on the roost at 2am, going into the nesting box with the egg at 4:40 am (still dark outside), and back on a roosting bar at 7:30 am. Could my chicken have laid an egg around 4:40? I’m amazed that the chicken could jump around in the dark at all. I thought they were blind at night.

 

[CluckerFamily]

Do you have any light at all in the coop at that time?
Outside lights?
The full moon maybe if it wasn't cloudy?
I'm wondering if she had just enough light to make her way to the nesting box.

 

[Ryooki]

We don’t have a light in the coop, and all the exterior lights on my house are pointed away / the obstructed from the coop. There is a blinking green light on the automatic door for the coop that blinks every few seconds.

Looks like the moon was at 80%. It was cloudy & drizzle this morning when I went out at 7:45, which was right after sunrise.

 

[Sycamore Hill Chicks]

Is she a new layer?

 

[Ryooki]

Is she a new layer?

Yes, just started laying about 2 weeks ago

 

[shaila]

80% moon, even if partially obscured, is enough to navigate by with well-adjusted eyes. Especially if light cloud cover reflects more light to the ground. I presume chickens are less inclined to stub their toes (especially making a noisy fit) like humans making midnight bathroom runs. Beyond that, chickens are generally intelligent enough to make mental maps of their surroundings, maybe she went by memory too.

New layers do have a reputation for irregularity. (inconsistent size, shape, hardness, timing, etc) It's likely once her system gets a hang of itself, she'll stick between astronomical twilights on the daytime side.

 

[Sycamore Hill Chicks]

Yes, just started laying about 2 weeks ago

Then that can happen.

 

[Stepnout]

I’ve had several of my pullets lay through the night many times since they started laying this September. Even the last 2 nights I’ve checked for eggs about 11:00 pm and at 7:15 the eggs are there. I have the Eglu Cube and I’ve had them lay dozens of eggs on the roosting bars.
I use no light.