Realistically how many eggs should expect each day?

[Liadan]

My 6 girls are 7 or 8 months old now. I've been getting eggs for about a month now and earlier this week I got a daily high of 5 eggs. Right now I typically get 4 but there are days I only get 3, usually followed by a double hiker.

I have 2 Wyandottes, 2 Brahmas (I think one isn't laying quite yet. Her comb is still pale, other might be a cross as her comb is a little different from the other), a barred rock and one that I believe is a Wyandotte/RiR but definitely some sort of cross.

If/When all the girls are laying should I expect 6 eggs every day on average or is a lower number more realistic?

 

[PirateGirl]

Since you do not have production breeds and you have 6 chickens and producing an egg takes more than 24 hours, I would not expect six eggs a day. In the course of the week my 5 chickens average 3 or 4 eggs a day. Some days I get one from everyone, in summer I rarely get less than 3, winter is a whole different story. I think what you are experiencing is pretty typical.

 

[proudmommie31]

In my experience it's rarely a egg day per chicken deal. I had 15 hens sometimes got 12-14 eggs per day. Sometimes 10-11 if they decided to take the same day off. It averaged out to a dozen eggs per day every week. With six hens I think 5 eggs is excellent and 4 a day (with those 3 egg days thrown in) may be pretty typical for you.

 

[Liadan]

Glad to hear!

I don't have a run and I hate to keep them shut up as some of my girls like to wait til late afternoon so hidden eggs is my main concern. They have a nice big horse stall we converted for them so they do have a decent amount of space and I've been keeping them shut up more just to get them trained to the boxes but they are not pleased about it. But I kept finding eggs hidden around the barn so we do as we must.

 

[wobit]

Production depends on so many different factors - breed, age, season, light supplementation.
The average number of eggs per year laid by a hen in her prime is supposedly 260 for a RIR, 200 for a Wyandotte, and 150 for a Brahma. If I straight up do the math that would give you 3.4 eggs per day on average over the year. I have no idea who got those numbers and how, but they do seem in line with the breed descriptions. All hens lay most robustly in their first year, and commercial battery hens don't typically have a career longer than 1.5 to 2 years. Elderly pet hens may continue to lay sporadically but it will be far, far less.

I have hens that are 2 and 4 years old and the older girls seem to slow down earlier in the fall and pick up later in the spring. There were a few weeks this winter when we had no eggs at all (I do not supplement light, I prefer to let them rest). My experience is that the first winter, the pullets will lay right through, but thereafter not so.

 

[proudmommie31]

Glad to hear!

I don't have a run and I hate to keep them shut up as some of my girls like to wait til late afternoon so hidden eggs is my main concern. They have a nice big horse stall we converted for them so they do have a decent amount of space and I've been keeping them shut up more just to get them trained to the boxes but they are not pleased about it. But I kept finding eggs hidden around the barn so we do as we must.

Lol, I totally understand the daily egg hunt. My first bunch of hens decided to stop using their nest and from then on it was a struggle. If they keep sneaking off maybe try putting a few plastic eggs in the nests. For us anyway it seemed to help, if they saw other “eggs” they seems to think it was a proper place to lay .

 

[Liadan]

I put golf balls in the nests for 2-3 weeks and we sold off the half stack of hay that was their favorite hiding grounds and they can't get on top of this year's cutting so I'm hoping I've got them trained now...

Thats the main reason I'm asking what I should expect so I know how hard I need to go looking, if at all, for a hidden cache

 

[Liadan]

Very informative, Thank you : )

Production depends on so many different factors - breed, age, season, light supplementation.
The average number of eggs per year laid by a hen in her prime is supposedly 260 for a RIR, 200 for a Wyandotte, and 150 for a Brahma. If I straight up do the math that would give you 3.4 eggs per day on average over the year. I have no idea who got those numbers and how, but they do seem in line with the breed descriptions. All hens lay most robustly in their first year, and commercial battery hens don't typically have a career longer than 1.5 to 2 years. Elderly pet hens may continue to lay sporadically but it will be far, far less.

I have hens that are 2 and 4 years old and the older girls seem to slow down earlier in the fall and pick up later in the spring. There were a few weeks this winter when we had no eggs at all (I do not supplement light, I prefer to let them rest). My experience is that the first winter, the pullets will lay right through, but thereafter not so.