What time of day does a hen lay her egg??

Answer: Whenever they darn well feel like it!

Seriously. When I first got chickens, I had this vision of my hens all laying early in the morning. I'd get up and head out to do my barn chores, and collect all of the day's fresh-laid eggs at one time. Not so. I sometimes get eggs as late as 4 or 5 p.m.! Generally they will lay before 10 or 11 a.m., but you can't old 'em to it!

Oh, and

 

My hens lay after 8 am and before 5 pm. They are working girls and don't lay any eggs earlier or later! I have a light that turns on at 5 am and off at 8 pm.

This is my first year of raising hens and I was expecting eggs laid at all hours.

 

They lay an egg about every 25 hours. So if a hen were to lay an egg at 7 am today, she'll lay around 8 am tomorrow. It continues thru the day like that until it gets way late in the evening. Then they start over the next day or take a day off, whichever.

 

My one hen that's laying now lays at about 10am

 

When I go in in the morning you can usually tell how late I am by how many eggs are in the nests. If the turken has laid hers I'm right on time. The later in the day it is the more eggs there are but the turken is always first. I suspect that the red sex link is next with the Hamburg shortly thereafter since those two are usually in the same nest if I'm late. I've caught the BO out there shortly after noon a couple of times so I know she's later in the day and the rest of them....I'm clueless.

 

Quote:This has been my experience with my hen too.

 

my hens lay from 7 am to noon. Once and awhile there's a afternoon egg, but not very often. They have been laying for a month and a half now.

 

The majority of my hens lay from early morning until about 1pm. but there is one, Mary Grace, who lays daily about 4 pm. I can't figure it out so they have access to the nesting boxes 24-7.

 

Yep, they lay whenever they like. That 25 hour clock of theirs makes me think they're really alien invaders from another planet that has a different orbit around whatever sun it circles, which accounts for the odd hours of laying... .... .... ok, maybe not. But yeah, they don't have a set time.