On laying too early. That's generally not a problem for us but the commercial operations manage that carefully. They use the hybrid egg layers, especially bred to lay a lot of large eggs efficiently. Part of that is that they have smaller bodies so more of what they eat goes to egg production instead of maintaining a large body. Also when a pullet first starts to lay she can lay weird eggs (strange shapes, shell-less, soft shelled, double yolkers, no-yolkers, yolks only, etc) and they are going to be pretty small. These eggs are not commercial and in some cases might lead to issues. Remember they are dealing with flocks in the thousands, not the numbers we deal with. They found that it is more economical over the life of their flock to delay the start of egg laying a few weeks by the use of lights and feeding. If they wanted to with those hybrids they could probably have most of them laying at 16 to 17 weeks, maybe even sooner, but they typically time laying to start around 22 to 23 weeks of age.
You don't have those hybrids. You don't manage them that way. Early laying typically isn't a problem for us. I get as excited as anyone else when one of my pullets starts laying at 16 weeks but I'm just a happy if she waits a few weeks longer. For those of mine that waited nine months to start I was excited in a different way.
I've butchered a lot of pullets and hens. Part of my goals are to hatch my own chicks and raise my replacements. I eat the ones that don't make the "keep" list. I've seen enough on the inside of a pullet or hen to know that a hen does not go from not laying to laying overnight. She has to make internal changes to her plumbing and grow tiny ova to yolk-size before she starts to lay. It's possible yours have already started making those internal changes. If they have, adding lights may be like turning on a switch. If they haven't and adding lights starts them it could still be a few weeks before you see an egg.
Some people are under the mistaken impression that chickens need 14 or 16 hours of daylight to lay eggs. I do not add lights and have had plenty of pullets lay their first eggs or hens finish the molt and regularly lay eggs with only 10 hours of light a day. Light has an important part in their laying, but that's mostly in triggering them to release a yolk to start the internal egg-making process so they will lay that egg during the day.
Before they were domesticated, days getting shorter triggered them to stop laying and use what nutrition they ate to replace worn out feathers. Winter was not a really good time to raise chicks. The days getting longer was a sign that better days were coming so it was time to get ready to lay eggs and start raising chicks again. Those instincts have been weakened with certain chickens due to being domesticated and selectively bred to lay a lot of eggs but they are still there. Days getting longer can still trigger many into getting ready to lay. It is a handy tool to have. Plus, by making sure that days do not get shorter in the fall you can delay or stop them molting and keep them laying.
But as with everything there are trade-offs. Days getting shorter can trigger a molt and stop them from laying. If you extend your lights in winter and stop them during the spring so they see the days as getting shorter you may trigger a spring-time molt. Not always but sometime. So you need to watch the length of daylight when you stop those lights.
There is another issue. If hens lay continuously for extended periods of time their bodies get worn out. They need to take a break and refresh their bodies. If you go too long egg production and egg quality can drop. For commercial operations with their special hybrid layers that's generally about 13 to 15 months. They carefully monitor production and quality to decide when they need to either molt the flock or replace it. I don't know how long our hens can go without that becoming a problem. I suspect it varies by hen. I've never seen this with my flock as I don't use lights. Some people on here that extend lights do occasionally run into these issues. Extreme summer heat can cause a drop in egg production so this is not always the problem. It is not always straightforward.
Extending the lights can be a useful tool, but like any tool you need to know how to use it. You are selling eggs and you may be able to use it to even out egg production throughout the year. Your goals are different from mine.
Good luck however you go.
. Wish me luck for lots of eggs!
