Regular schedule for egg-laying?

[leight54]

My 2 hens are both laying now! YAY! (One started a month ago, the other about a week ago.)Their cycle seems to be about a day-and-a-half. So they lay 1st day early morning, 2nd day late afternoon, 3rd day not at all, then repeat.

I'm wondering if they'll eventually start laying every day, and at the same time every day? It doesn't matter now, but come spring, I'll want to put them in a lightweight, moveable pen in the lawn. If they're laying at a consistent time every day, I can be sure they're in the coop when they get "the urge".

Otherwise, should I put a nest box in the pen? At this point they've only each used the nestbox once, but I'm hopeful they'll catch on soon. Usually, I find the eggs in the run or in the coop, sometimes dropped from the roost! Oops! Pre-scrambled eggs!

 

[ChicKat]

Congratulations on the eggs.

if they establish a regular time will partially depend on the breed.

The books say that it takes 25 hours or so from start to finish to produce an egg, and somewhere I read that if they haven't ovulated by 3PM they won't lay the following day.

I had one that was as regular as clock work FIRST thing in the morning and would even scold me if I didn't get all the coop cleaning done super early---it was really cute. She never read the book about 25-hours.

If you plan for them to be in their portable enclosure the entire day, then providing a nest box in there would probably be a very good idea.

 

[leight54]

One's a Partridge Chanticler and the other is an Ameraucana. At least that's what the small, hobby farm hatchery told me, but I understand THAT whole debate, and accept that she is possibly an EE. I was hoping for blue or green eggs, but - *sigh* - they're brown like the Chanty's. But I can still tell them apart by the shape and the shade of brown.

So, are Chanticlers and Ameraucana/EE's likely to get on a same-time-every-day schedule, d'you think?

 

[ChicKat]

I would guess that they won't because that would be the desired outcome and after all they are chickens.

Here is a link to a nest box that you might be able to set up outside for them:
http://www.premier1supplies.com/detail.php?prod_id=78703&criteria=nest+box

here's one from a quick web search
http://stealthsurvival.blogspot.com/2009/04/raising-poultry-diy-nest-boxes.html

There is also a manufacturer that sells 5-gallon bucket type nest boxes.

If they are where it is going to be hot, be sure to provide plenty of shade for that outdoor nest box.