What time do chickens lay eggs??

[cochise]

I thought an egg took approx. 25 hours to 'be made'? I'm sure I read it somewhere...

 

[ChickInnKeaper]

I have 21 hens. They start at 7:30am and go all day till 4:30. The majority lay between 10am and 2pm..always one around 4:30pm. In my book "Raising Chickens for Dummies" it says hens take 25 hours to create an egg. I also read in this book if you keep a CLEAN nesting box they will always lay their eggs there and not everywhere.


Not to thread jack but.... Just a few words about this book...It is my "go to" for any questions I have about my girls. If I can't get the answer there, I can always get it here, in the archives. Last month I had a problem with one of my Cochins, She had one eye that was swollen shut. After reviewing archives here, diagnosing what the problem was, I was able to find a video to TREAT her on YOUTUBE. I was able to diagnose and treat the problem with 100% success. I read, if left untreated she would have died. Now I am proud to say I am the doctor of my girls. I love this site!!!

 

[cochise]

Ta for the reply - easy to read too.... I don't have as many chickens as you but always get eggs so I must be doing something right.... I also had one with a swollen eye - and sorted the problem from just a bit of common sense and TLC ... cheers

 

[ochochicas]

What the data says scientifically is that is takes more or less 25 hours for an egg to be produced. I'm assuming there can be significant variation between hens. Also, an egg could start "production" before the previous one was laid.

I have a 2 year old hen now that has laid an egg every morning this month with the exception of one day when it was super hot and almost none of the hens laid that day. It has been documented that hens have laid 360+ eggs in a year. Clearly this is about one everyday so they are producing more than one every 25 hours.

Yesterday I got 5 eggs between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. I got one more around 8 p.m. Just depends on the hens.

 

[DarleneE]

Yippeeeeee!!!!! My baby girl has layed her first egg!! She layed it on Tuesday, at mid-morning and has layed an egg at exactly 1 1/2 hour later each day so far!! She's just perfect!!.. has done EVERYTHING by the book in her development etc etc..I'm SO proud of my Daisy Dukes!! NOW I'm waiting on my Easter Egger, Olivia to start laying. She's not even squatting however?? They're the same age and were hatched together and are inseparable!! She seems very immature next to Daisy, my Barred Rock..?? All she thinks about is playing.. she's also a very poor eater?? In my opinion I think she's kinda skinny actually?? She also does NOT like to be carried much or handled.. They're VERY different birds for certain. I am dying for her to start laying though so I can see what color eggs she's gonna lay!! ANYWAY.. I'm just SO excited my Daisy started laying!! She also ALWAYS squats for me now when I go to pick her up or pet her!! I think that's the coolest thing EVER!!

This is Olivia.. does she look skinny to anyone?? Any ideas on how to get her to eat better are appreciated. Thank you!!

Lastly, this is my Daisy who JUST started laying!!

 

[bruceha2000]

Yippeeeeee!!!!! My baby girl has layed her first egg!! She layed it on Tuesday, at mid-morning and has layed an egg at exactly 1 1/2 hour later each day so far!! She's just perfect!!.. has done EVERYTHING by the book in her development etc etc..I'm SO proud of my Daisy Dukes!! NOW I'm waiting on my Easter Egger, Olivia to start laying. She's not even squatting however?? They're the same age and were hatched together and are inseparable!! She seems very immature next to Daisy, my Barred Rock..?? All she thinks about is playing.. she's also a very poor eater?? In my opinion I think she's kinda skinny actually?? She also does NOT like to be carried much or handled.. They're VERY different birds for certain. I am dying for her to start laying though so I can see what color eggs she's gonna lay!! ANYWAY.. I'm just SO excited my Daisy started laying!! She also ALWAYS squats for me now when I go to pick her up or pet her!! I think that's the coolest thing EVER!!

This is Olivia.. does she look skinny to anyone?? Any ideas on how to get her to eat better are appreciated. Thank you!!

Lastly, this is my Daisy who JUST started laying!!

Different chickens start laying at different ages. All these came in the same box as day old chicks from Ideal Poultry in Texas:
The earliest to lay was a Faverolles on 11/3/12 (the other Faverolles on 11/30/12), the latest a Partridge Chantecler on 1/8/13 (the other PC on 11/28/12).
My EE that was taken by a predator last month laid her first egg 11/25/12 - big and a double yolk. Only double she ever laid. The other EE didn't lay until 12/12/12.
My earlier Black Australorp first laid 11/26/12, the other not until 1/3/13.

So you see there is a LOT of variation not only between breeds but WITHIN breeds. I don't know the parentage of these girls, the hatcheries sell a lot of chicks so it is entirely possible, even likely, that the ones that are the same breed are not even related. I would GUESS that if you have a hen that raised a clutch, they would all mature and lay about the same.

 

[DarleneE]

Thank you!!

 

[JennaLynn122]

Yippeeeeee!!!!! My baby girl has layed her first egg!! She layed it on Tuesday, at mid-morning and has layed an egg at exactly 1 1/2 hour later each day so far!! She's just perfect!!.. has done EVERYTHING by the book in her development etc etc..I'm SO proud of my Daisy Dukes!! NOW I'm waiting on my Easter Egger, Olivia to start laying. She's not even squatting however?? They're the same age and were hatched together and are inseparable!! She seems very immature next to Daisy, my Barred Rock..?? All she thinks about is playing.. she's also a very poor eater?? In my opinion I think she's kinda skinny actually?? She also does NOT like to be carried much or handled.. They're VERY different birds for certain. I am dying for her to start laying though so I can see what color eggs she's gonna lay!! ANYWAY.. I'm just SO excited my Daisy started laying!! She also ALWAYS squats for me now when I go to pick her up or pet her!! I think that's the coolest thing EVER!!

This is Olivia.. does she look skinny to anyone?? Any ideas on how to get her to eat better are appreciated. Thank you!!

Lastly, this is my Daisy who JUST started laying!!

YAY FOR DAISY'S FIRST EGG!!!
Olivia doesnt look skinny to me. Maybe compared to Daisy she looks skinny but she doesnt look unhealthy, skinny. My GLW are so much fatter than my RIR pullets that you can barely tell they are same aged other than feather progression.

 

[DarleneE]

JennaLynn122,
Thanks so much.. I feel better now!!

 

[missnu01]

My chickens lay all willy nilly at whatever time of day they feel like