What time do they lay?

[vstoltzfus]

Mine are done by 1 pm. When I let them out to free range at 7 am there is usually an egg or 2 in the nesting boxes. When I check again after lunch I have another 9 or so.

 

[M To The Maxx]

Mine usually lay from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

 

[blueheaven]

i do want to 'see' the chix in the next boxes, but i leave the door open 24/7 so they can be in the coop or run anytime. however, they are always outside as i never see them in the coop even.
so...i will try to start look in the early morning to catch them in there.
thanks..

 

[TK Poultry]

mine lay in the morning between 6a and 11a

 

[digitS']

During the first few weeks, your pullets are going to be anything but consistent. After awhile, they settle down to a more "normal" routine.

The poultry scientists say that there's an "open period" of about 8 hours when hens are laying each day. The peak of this time comes about 16 hours after dark on the previous day. Of course, all this works better in the controlled environment of a closed commercial laying house.

So, let's say that someone "flips the switch" to off at 8pm every evening. The peak of their laying should come about 10am the next morning. The flock will begin laying about 6am and finish about 2pm.

The same-time-each-day isn't possible not only with sunlit housing but by the fact that chickens aren't usually "24 hour layers". Most hens require more than that to cycle an egg through, an "average" hen might be about 26 hours. Ovulation starts within about 30 minutes of the laying of the previous egg in a clutch.

So, out comes an egg at 8am. Ovulation starts and our "26 hour layer" is off to the races

. At the 26 hour mark of 10am the next day, she lays her 2nd egg. The 3rd egg shows up at 12, the 4th arrives at the 2pm mark. If she has more that 4 eggs in her "clutch" (and she should), she has probably arrived at the time of day, 2pm, when the necessary hormones for ovulation aren't available. She has to "pause" and will skip the next day, build up those hormones and lay again sometime early on the day following.

You are going to have to follow your layers around with a stop watch to time them precisely unless they are those remarkable "24 hour layers." Most will not be. And, even I'm not weird enuf

to have figured out what even 1 of my layers is up to . . .

Steve

 

[Uppity Peon]

2 of my 20 pullets are in lay and they are consistently laying eggs in mid-morning.

 

[rendonhen]

I can go out to the coop at different times of the day and will see an egg or two. They are tricky little creatures. They do however have a different clucking when they lay as if to say haha i layed an egg (can't really explain it, No one believed me until my cousin heard it too) LOL.

 

[Uppity Peon]

I got my first afternoon egg today. I have a dog-house on a picnic table just outside my bedroom window positioned so I can see when it is occupied. This hen has been leaving me an egg each day there. But today... she was in, she was out... no egg. In again, out again, still no egg.

She finally laid it at about 3PM.

I know... You might be a Crazy Chicken Person if you have an old dog house on a picnic table positioned outside the bedroom window so... I know, I know.

 

[Sissy]

My hens lay between 1 and 3 in the afternoon
and they too let us know.


oh the dog house looks nice and cozy..

 

[mrbstephens]

My first laying hen will lay an egg at 10:00 am on day 1, on day 2 it will be 12:00 noon, on day 3 it will be 2:00 pm and day four it will be 4:00 pm and day 5 she takes the day off. Then starts over again. It'll be nice to have more than just one laying!