An egg or two or three or four a day?

Sydney, feeding chickens bread crumbs.

Have you ever thought about how many eggs a chicken lays each day? The thought never crossed my mind until a couple of years ago.

We started our original laying flock back in 2007. My grandfather reestablished his flock at about the same time. Grandpa asked Craig to take care of his chickens for a few days while he was a little under the weather. Craig fed the chickens and gathered the eggs. My dad asked him later how many eggs he had in the basket. Craig, noticeably disappointed, said, "Only seven."

Daddy asked, "Well, how many hens are there?"

"Seven," answered Craig.

Depending on the breed of chicken, hens lay an average of an egg a day. Some, more prolific breeds, like Leghorns, lay an egg everyday, while others lay one to three eggs a week. Hens start laying a little after six months of age and can lay well into their teens, with their best years before the age of four.

Our current flock has a couple of everyday girls and the rest of the ladies are every-other-day layers. We have three eggs in the nest one day and six the next.

We have Welsummer chickens as well as a few Sexlink hens.  We love the dark brown and often speckled eggs from the Welsummers. The Sexlink hens are hardy and good layers. They usually lay a nice brown egg everyday and fill in the gaps in egg production caused by the not-so-proficient Welsummers.

Welsummer rooster, center, with Sexlink and Welsummer hens.

Egg production is affected not only by the breed of bird, but the time of year. Chickens lay best at temperatures between 45 and 80 degrees and need about 14 hours of daylight. Some chicken owners have lights on timers to continue to stimulate the hens to lay regularly through the winter. We choose to let the hens have a break. We do, however, use heat lights in the winter to keep the ladies warm.

Another fact in egg production is a hen's general health. We feed 16% layer hen mini-pellets, free choice, and also allow our chickens to free range. Chickens are not vegetarians. In my opinion, to remain healthy, they need a variety of foods including grain, grass, insects and the occasional treat (they love turnips). Chickens also require fresh water and sanitary, secure housing. I can't stress "secure" enough. I've had too many friends say, "I wanted chickens, but a fox ate them" or "A dog killed all my chickens." Breeches happen, but you must do your best to protect your flock. We use electric fencing and a Great Pyrenees to guard our herd and flock.

For more chicken information, visit BackyardChickens.com. It's a great site with all sorts of information. Be sure to check out the forum.