What time of day do the lay?

[christina1982]

Does anyone know what time of day they are more likely to lay eggs??

 

[ChicKat]

Hey Christina,

Good question, I think it partially depends upon the chicken. Chicken education books say that the chicken takes on average 25 hours to produce the egg start-to-finish. If the average chicken laid at 8 one morning the egg would move an hour later each day. I read (can't remember where) that if the chicken hasn't ovulated by 3PM she won't and thus the next day won't have an egg.

My golden comet didn't read the book and she lays daily at around 9AM. -- The day before Easter she laid her egg at 3PM and then she took the next day off (Easter Sunday). Since then it has been daily around 9-in-the-morning. My two Barred Rocks lay nearly every day, but not every day, so they do vary. I have also noticed on about 5 occasions when I was around that they have laid their eggs in pecking-order-sequence. I haven't heard anyone talk about this before, but it kind of makes sense, the higher on the totem pole, the greater access to the nest box and the lower status hen has to wait.

It's a good idea to check the nest box frequently, to remove eggs, so they don't get ideas of how nice it would be to sit on eggs and go broody, and of course, the egg can't be harmed accidentally by another chicken if you have removed it.

 

[cluckcluckboom]

ours lay late in the evenings

 

[kinsey228]

Some of mine lay about noon, and some lay at night.

 

[dianaross77]

Mine lay from 9am to 1pm.

 

[christina1982]

Thank you so much for all of your responses! I only have 6 chickens (2 20 week old leg horn and white rock, 2 16 week comets (is that even a breed lol ?) and 2 14 week old black sex linked).


I have always heard of early layers but mine sure are not lol.

 

[ChicKat]

Quote:
It sounds like your chickens are just at the beginning of their laying, and some may not even have started yet. Your chickens sound like they are going to give you a lot of eggs! I wouldn't be surprised if in their prime you get 6 eggs on a lot of the days of the week!

 

[aggie9296]

my red sex links (same thing as a golden comet or red star i think) lay usually before noon. i have been getting 4/4 nearly every day for 2 months from them.

 

[Barbill1]

Good morning and Merry Christmas. I just joined backyard chickens. I have 5 beautiful Orpington hens and this is my first time owning chickens. I am having an absolute ball. They are the sweetest little girls. They wer 5 months old Dec 9 and they lashed their first eggs dec 21. 4 of them.. Then got another one yesterday. Mine lay sometime in the afternoon and are their when I lock them in from predators for the night. (sundown..then don't have to chase them in )

Don't know who is givingme the eggs but assume all of them. Have 6 laying boxes but the eggs are all in one box. Guess they like sharing. Any thoughts?

Thank you for having me. I love my girls .

 

[ThePigeonKid]

Mine lay from 9am to 5pm.