Signs Your Hen is Ready to Lay. Consider the Age of Your Chickens. Hens aren’t born ready to lay eggs from day one. How is your hen interacting with the rest of the flock? A couple more ideas to investigate are: your hen will begin to squat, look at the physical characteristics of your hen, she will start to explore the nesting area, or your hens may be hungrier than normal .
Most hens will lay their first egg around 18 weeks of age and then lay an egg almost daily thereafter. In their first year, you can expect up to 250 eggs from high-producing, well-fed backyard chickens. Then, egg counts will naturally decrease each following year with hens entering egg retirement around years six or seven.
Five to seven months old is the minimum age chickens tend to start laying eggs. The time of year is also a factor in egg production. Like humans, hens are unable to produce if they don’t have a proper diet. Environment, many factors in egg production, and a final consideration we’ll discuss is their environment as well are a couple more ideas to pay attention too.
When do chickens usually start laying eggs?
Some chicken breeds are genetically able to lay eggs sooner than others. Parasite infestation by worms, mites, and lice often result in a delay of egg production. Nutrition affects hens laying, summary, the importance of water, molting, access to nesting boxes, and stress are a few more items to investigate.
What time of year do chickens lay the most eggs?
Chickens need a certain amount of sunlight to lay eggs which usually correlates to certain times of the year, as in, Spring through Summer is usually their most productive time. Are you giving your hens a free choice calcium supplement such as oyster shells for them to eat, they need extra calcium to lay eggs with hard shells .
What to do with chickens when they stop laying?
Use a high protein feed, at least 16%, you might even see it labeled as a “feather fixer”Keep your coop clean of chicken feathers. Feed high-protein snacks. Provide shade for your chickens if they are molting during warm months to prevent sunburn. Provide a good warm, draft-free coop if they start molting during the winter.