laying times....

[mmclaughlin]

question....Do chickens lay eggs all day??? I have 5 new layers and they usually start singing/laying in the am done laying by noon...
but yesterday my welsummer started singing about 5:30pm and left me a present a beautiful speckled dark brown egg!!
is her timing off??
thanks.....

 

[d0tski]

From what I've read, a hen usually has an egg cycle that lasts just over a day. So a daily layer would often lay slightly later each day, holding over to the next day if the egg would be due after dusk.

Someone with more knowledge and experience will likely chime in, but I don't think you have a problem

Bec

 

[Peplers chicks]

Yes that is true, a hen lay's a egg every 25 to 27 hours, sometimes they can even hold it back a few hours until they reach suitable nesting, but then also you would hear her cry constantly

 

[Ridgerunner]

That’s a good question but her timing is not off. Based on what you read on this forum, many people seem to think that each and every chicken all over the world are identical in what they do and how they behave. They are not. Each chicken is an individual with its own personality and behaviors. There are some basics, but most of the things concerning numbers especially are more guidelines than actual rules of nature. They are generally true but not always real precise.

In theory, a chicken releases a yolk to start its journey through her internal egg laying factory 20 minutes after she lays her current egg. In theory it takes about 25 hours for that egg to go through her internal egg laying factory and be laid. Most of that time is spent in the shell gland where the shell is being applied. So in theory the egg should be laid about 1 hour 20 minutes later each day. Somehow they manage to not lay after dark once they get control of the process (pullets just starting may lay a few eggs at night from the roost until they get this control) and occasionally all hens skip a day laying, so it’s not really this precise, but that’s the theory.

In practice, many hens do follow this rough schedule, but many don’t. A few years back I had only one green egg layer so it was easy to know without a doubt which was her egg. She laid an egg a day for 12 to 14 days straight, then skipped a day. If she didn’t lay by 9:00 a.m. she wasn’t going to lay that day so she was certainly not on that 25 hours 20 minutes schedule. I’ve had others that were a lot more sporadic. They might lay any time of day. There is nothing wrong with them. It’s just the way their body is put together.