What time of day do your hens lay?

[esjro]

SSIA.

 

[cajunlizz]

MOST of the time my hens lay in the afternoon ...


I often check the coop early in the mornings around 8:00 and nothing . Checked around noonish and found 1 or 2 , and I guess its easy to say when they get darn good and ready !!!!!!!

 

[the simple life]

Mine just started to lay a week ago.
Two lay in the morning one around 8:00 a.m the other shortly after but both by 9:30 or so.
Then I have one that sneaks off and lays an egg in the other flocks's coop while they are out free ranging, she does this every day between 1:00-2:00.
Those are the only three I have laying this minute.
I have 7 that are 24 weeks and since last sunday three have begun laying, then I have 15 that are 21 weeks so after that I will never be able to figure out who is laying at what time.
I just keep checking the coops throughout the day since I am in the yard so much anyway.

 

[mcg30_40]

Most lay around noon for me...I have a few early layers but they are also the ones that are just starting to lay.

 

[Wildsky]

ANY TIME.

Chickens I believe are on a 25 or so hour clock for laying, so today they might lay at 8am, and tomorrow it will be 9am - by Sunday they'll be laying in the afternoon... when they get to the end of the day - they'll skip a day and start over...

I never really keep track - I just collect once a day in the evening when we feed all the animals.

 

[edster951]

Mine have laid 20 eggs bt 1-2pm half of them are laid by 10am.

 

[lauralou]

Wildsky is right.

I actually keep track, and they don't lay at the same time every day. It starts in the morning, gets a bit later, a bit later, until finally they lay towards the end of the day, then skip a day and start over.

It would be possible to have a hen with an exact 24 hour cycle that would lay at the same time every day. None of mine do. It's more like 25 to 27 hours, depending on the hen.

 

[esjro]

Interesting, thanks for the info!

I asked because my red star just started to lay. I found eggs on Sat and Sun in the coop, but none Monday. I let them out into a fenced area during the day that is about half an acre, so I was wondering if she laid an egg on Monday somewhere outside - on the weekends we sleep in a little so the ladies get let out mid morning, as opposed to first thing in the morning during the work week, so I thought that perhaps she was always laying in the early morning.

But, based on the responses looks like I'd better get ready for an egg hunt!

 

[hensonly]

When they first started, I found eggs throughout the day. After a month, they were all laid by 10 am. Once in a while I'll find one or two at noon, but rarely is one laid later than that. It's really nice to be able to collect all my eggs at once!

 

[jossanne]

I get eggs anytime between 8am and 4pm usually, but one day last week I was in the hen house at 9pm, and one of my BR's was in the nest box. I looked under her and she'd already laid her egg, and was pretty quickly back on the roost to sleep.