Laying in the afternoon

[Rachelz]

Our newly laying (like 2 weeks) chickens have not gotten the memo about laying in the morning. They lay randomly throughout the day, including when they're in their tractor outside, which led to our great (but very not good) dog eating an egg yesterday. Does this clear up on its own? Should we open their doors earlier?

 

[Logar]

That is normal. One of my pullets laid an egg at 5 or 6 pm today. Some will lay only in the mornings after they get used to laying but others never become consistent with the time they lay.

 

[Buckeye Amy]

You don't have control over when they lay. I've had eggs in the nest boxes at 5:00 pm and later!

 

[bill3607]

I have always had some that lay during different times of the day. I don't think there is anything that says they will lay only in the morning. If I am remembering correctly the egg cycle is between 24-26 hours. So, that should tell you they will not always lay in the morning.

 

[Buckeye Amy]

Yes @bill3607 , and if I'm doing my math correctly, a hen that lays 5 eggs per week will lay every 33.6 hours.

 

[bill3607]

Yes @bill3607 , and if I'm doing my math correctly, a hen that lays 5 eggs per week will lay every 33.6 hours.

I am not sure if it works that way, or if they stay on the average of 25 hour cycle when laying, but take a day or two off during the week, or more days off depending on the breed and individual bird.

 

[My Three Chicks]

Agreed chickens lay at different times of the day. My girls lay later and later each day. A couple of them often lay in the afternoon at late as 6:30pm.
Be sure to always make their nest boxes available all day for whenever they need to lay. Otherwise they'll lay somewhere you DON'T want them to lay. It's also stressful for them if they can't access their regular laying location.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

If it takkes 25 hr to make an egg, then a hen that laid at 6 am will lay at 7 am the next day and an hour later every day until one day she lays around sunset, assuming an egg a day. Then she'll take a day off and start over. But few if any are this clockwork.

 

[Nym]

Mine usually lay around 10a.m. or later. Finding any in the early morning is a real treat!

 

[FrostRanger]

Chickens will lay whenever the urge strikes them, you as a chicken keeper have no control whatsoever of this. All you can do is collect their eggs gratefully every day