Too many hens laying?

[The Lazy L]

I got 9 Buff Orpingtons. 8 hens,1 rooster.

They will be 6 months old at the end of this month (November)

From what I've read they will average laying an egg every other day. The last 10 days I've been getting 4 eggs a day so I figure all 8 hens matured and are laying.

Last Thursday 5 eggs so I figured Friday I'd get 3. Nope got 5 and a 1/3 (real small egg). 10 and 1/3 eggs from 8 hens in 2 days ?!

Do BOs lay more then what I thought?

 

[Gallina Sarda]

Maybe some breeds lay more than one a day. Is it possible you " missed" an egg from a previous days laying session? I'd say you're rather lucky and have really happy pullets (I haven't had any eggs to date, oh wo is me). Don't look the proverbial gift horse or gift chick in the mouth I am quite envious!!

 

[Ridgerunner]

I don't know where you got your birds or that average thing. Maybe if they average it out for the whole year and figure they go broody and raise chicks a couple of times (they quit laying then) you could come up with that.

It depends a bunch on what the egg laying habits of the parent flock were like. If you got them from a hatchery, that hatchery has been keeping hens that lay well for so long that the hens will lay a whole lot more eggs than every other day. You may find a few Buff Orps that will do that every other day thing but in the good part of the season each hen might lay an egg every day straight for 5 to 15 days, skip one day, then do it again.

They will stop laying when they molt. They don't lay while they are broody. In the extreme heat of summer or the cold of winter they may cut back and lay fewer eggs, though I've had several, including Buff Orpington, that did not cut back in the heat or cold once the molt was over with.

If you got your Buff Orps from someone that is breeding them for show and not for egg production, they might lay a lot less. A judge at a show does not see how many eggs a hen lays and would not be impressed anyway so many breeders that breed for show have birds that produce a lot less than hatchery birds. Egg production is just not one of the traits they breed for but they sure have pretty birds. You may occasionally find someone breeding both for show and production but that is extremely rare.

Not all Buff Orps are identical. Some are a lot prettier than others and some produce a lot better than others. It depends on what traits the people breeding them are trying to get.

 

[The Lazy L]

Meyers catalog (Hatchery that sold me the chicks) states 3 - 4 eggs per week. To me that means an average of 1 every other day.

Saturday 5 more eggs. That's 15 in 3 days!

 

[Ridgerunner]

I am pretty sure you will find you regularly get a lot more than one every other day per chicken. Just wait until you hit good weather and they are all laying!!!

 

[Eggcessive]

I have 2 BO's from Meyer that are 19 months old and they usually lay at least every other day, although they have been molting lately. Mine are smaller than the breeder qualitly ones, but they lay an XL egg. Mine both went broody back in the summer and raised chicks.

 

[The Lazy L]

Sunday another 5...that's 20 eggs in 4 days...and a hen that went broody...she wasn't too happy when I tried to gather the eggs, pecked me several times so I and picked her up and moved her out of the nesting box.

 

[TurtlePowerTrav]

My 2 BO's will lay for 4 days then take one off. I have been able to calculate their time for egg production. Mine take 26-27hrs to make an egg. I have logged what time they lay each day, and it is pretty consistent. They are HQ birds so have been bred for laying more than typical. My BR's take about 28hrs per egg and my Production Red's are 25hrs. I do have one BR that is broody on eggs, but am still averaging about 32 eggs a week from 5 hens.

 

[JanetS]

I don't have BO's but I have 6 hens. 2 white leghorns and 4 RSL. I average 6 eggs a day. In 2 days I usually have enough eggs to fill a carton.
Some days there are 5 and one day I had 7 eggs. I had figured I would get 3 to 4 eggs a day. Have been surprised with 5 or 6. I guess I have very happy chickens.

You may end up with a lot more eggs than you had planned for.

Good Luck.

 

[canesisters]

I have 5 hens and get 2-3 eggs every day.
Maybe your girls are just over-achievers!

Or they want to be worthy of that awesome coop you build.