Farmers eagerly wait for the day when their chickens will start to lay eggs in their nesting boxes.Egg production is an important part of the food chain. Many people love to consume eggs on a daily basis. And why not? They’re full of high-quality protein.So, when does the first egg arrive? Is it when they’re six months old? One year? The answer is when the chickens are around 18 weeks of age. Chickens lay their first egg as pullets when they’re 16-20 weeks old. 18 weeks is a rough generalization and the timelines can vary. To understand better, you should thoroughly read this article on when a chicken delivers its first egg in the nesting box.If you’re curious to learn more about these birds, why not read why do chickens eat their eggs and why do chickens lay eggs.When do chickens start laying eggs after winter?Chickens don’t lay eggs all year-round. They take a break in the winter season. Due to reduced temperature, their bodies are unable to release enough ovum to make fresh eggs. Nor is there sufficient light for them.But the birds start laying eggs in their boxes soon after winter when there’s a rise in temperature. More specifically, when the spring begins and as early as in March, you can expect chickens to resume laying eggs in their nesting box. This also depends on when they started molting. If it was late in the winter for some reason, they may go until April without producing eggs.However, with proper light and temperature arrangements, you can create the right summer-like conditions so the birds will begin to lay eggs in their nest boxes before winter ends. It all boils down to the conditions necessary for chickens to secrete ovum.Age of Chickens When They Start Laying EggsIf you’re raising chickens with the hope of producing fresh eggs, it’s essential to know at what age they start laying eggs. As you’ll see later, it depends on multiple factors. Accounting for all such factors, chickens generally start laying eggs when they’re between 16-20 weeks old.Chickens, when they’re born, spend the first four weeks of their life as baby chicks. They then enter the teenage phase which continues till week 15. Noticeable primary feathers show up and they develop a pecking order. The next phase is when you can expect eggs from your hens. At 16-20 weeks of age, the hens will be smaller in size and referred to as a ‘pullet’. The eggs delivered by the pullets will be smaller in size compared to those of matured hens.That’s because they’re still in the growing phase. After four months, so from 21-24 weeks onward, they begin producing regular-sized fresh eggs. But the age at which a hen lays her first egg will depend on the breed, lighting arrangement, and nutrition. Some animal breeds, like Orpingtons, can take up to six months to lay their first egg.What time of day do chickens start laying eggs?So, at what time can you expect eggs from a chicken? Most hen breeds ovulate in the morning, but some can ovulate around 3 PM as well. Rarely do they ovulate at night.So, if the ovulation starts at 7’o clock in the morning and considering it takes 26 hours to form an egg, the hen will lay her egg at around 9 AM next morning, if not earlier. If the hen starts ovulating in the afternoon, she may delay her ovulation until the next day since she can’t ovulate at night. So, the egg will take more than 26 hours to get delivered in a coop. This also explains why hens skip laying eggs for a day in between.An average hen will lay approximately 250 eggs per year. Let’s understand when they start laying eggs to when they stop and everything in between. As already mentioned, hens start producing eggs between 16-20 weeks of age as pullets. Pullet eggs are smaller in size and are harder to find. That’s because they’re only available for four weeks. Then, the young pullets become capable of producing bigger hen-like eggs.Once a pullet lays her first egg, you can expect one egg every day. It takes around 26 hours from ovulation to oviposition (also known as egg-laying). This is irrespective of whether the egg is fertilized or unfertilized. The ovulation starts soon after the hen lays the egg, and this process continues. Every year, the chickens molt for about 14-16 weeks. During this period, they regrow their feathers and hence stop laying eggs. Since regrowing the feathers requires energy, they find it difficult to lay eggs simultaneously. So they divert their body energy and nutrients from egg production to feather production.In the first year, they’ll be at the peak of their production, producing one egg every day. In the second and third year, they’ll be at 80% and 70% of previous numbers respectively. In the fourth year, egg production decreases considerably. At the six-year mark, hens will produce little to no eggs. Consider it as their retirement age. With their average lifespan being six to eight years, the hen will spend the rest of her years without producing eggs.Why do chickens start producing small eggs?There are several factors that have an influence on the size of the egg. These can also affect the egg quality, the frequency of egg delivery, and timing. Some factors are more influential than others but you should consider each factor to understand why the eggs in the coop get smaller.The main factor to take into consideration is the breed. There are different breeds of chicken and not all of them lay the same size of eggs. For example, Leghorns, Minorcas, and Golden Comets produce large-sized eggs and start doing so from 18 weeks of age. On the other hand, chickens of the bantam breed produce smaller eggs. So, you must consider the breed of your chicken first.Age also matters when it comes to the size of the eggs. As already mentioned, pullets or chickens less than a year old will only produce smaller eggs. That’s because she is still developing and yet to mature into a hen. The first eggs weigh about 1.24-1.41 oz (35-40 g) while the large eggs weigh 2.22-2.58 oz (63-73 g). So many of them fail to meet supermarket standards.How much sunlight your chickens are exposed to can also decide the size of the eggs. In general, hens demand 12 hours of light. With 14-16 daylight hours, they lay at their full potential. That’s why chickens perform best during the summer season when the daylight hours are 16.5. In fall or winter months, it gets reduced to 11 hours or less. So eggs production drops during these seasons. Even animal breeds such as Rhode Island reds find it difficult to produce egg every day. The drop in lighting may also affect the egg size. So to complete the 16-hour daylight requirement, poulterers install artificial lighting near the nesting boxes.Nutrition is another important determinant of the size of a chicken egg. It’s important that you offer them protein-rich layer feeds. Young hens, when they’re laying, consume about one-half cup of layer feed. Older hens will consume about twice the feed amount. Also, feed protein-rich treats to your backyard chicken every day or every other day. It helps them get sufficient protein from their diet which they then direct towards producing an egg. Lower protein intake means the laying hens won’t produce enough ovum for a large-sized egg.Since chickens follow a pecking order, strong hens may fight for food aggressively. Weaker ones get left behind and are deprived of proper nutrition. You should take additional care of weaker hens and place the layer feed close to their nesting boxes.Other stressful factors can also affect their size and when they begin to lay eggs. A backyard chicken can potentially face a wide range of stressful events. Attacks by other chickens, improper diet, illness, and injuries are all stressful events. Even when they undergo molting, they feel the pressure. So ensure the flock is raised in a calm environment.Will young chickens start laying eggs early if they are around laying hens?Many people presume that they can magically turn young chickens into egg-laying hens by keeping them around adult hens. But there’s little to no evidence backing it up. In fact, the opposite might be true. Adult hens may attack the pullets or those lower in the pecking order.So, it will put stress on the young birds, which could effectively delay their first eggs. Therefore, it’s important to take care of the young chicken until they’re 16 weeks or older.Why do chickens start laying small eggs? If you really want a trick, then try putting some golf balls in their coop. Golf balls are nearly the size of chicken eggs. This will make the place look safer for your chickens to lay eggs.To get the timing of a backyard chicken laying her egg right, you can look at certain signs. One of the first obvious signs is the reddening of the wattles and comb. Both of them get bigger and the color changes to vibrant red. Reddening of wattles is also a mating sign to the rooster that she is prepared to mate. She will also squat around a rooster. This squat is a mating sign.There are also some behavioral changes that come about. Both old and young hens will begin to pace the coop. They will cluck and prospect their laying spots. Soon you can see them moving from one nesting box to another. To make their job easier, you should place a few nesting boxes in the dark where they can sit and hide while laying eggs.Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for ‘When do chickens start laying eggs?’ then why not take a look at ‘Why do birds fly?’ or ‘Prairie Chicken facts’.
Farmers eagerly wait for the day when their chickens will start to lay eggs in their nesting boxes.
