Do chickens lay eggs everyday?

April 11, 2022 Agripreneur

Do all hens lay eggs?

At a certain point in time, a hen will lay its first egg and continue to lay eggs up to a certain threshold. All hens lay eggs, it is just the cycle of nature for them to reproduce. Hens that do not lay eggs have a genetic problem or a blockage in their reproductive system.

Laying eggs is a great thing and there is no happier farmer than one who has a laying chicken on their homestead. A laying hen is regarded highly and fed to produce more and more eggs. This is because eggs translate into either more chicken, food for the kitchen, or can similarly be exchanged for money.

In my country, a tray of kienyeji eggs sells for around 450kshs to 500kshs depending on the prices of the feeds at the point of sale. That translates to about 5$ for a tray of eggs.

When does a chicken start laying eggs?

A chicken starts laying eggs when it is fully mature. A mature hen will be able to lay its first egg at the age of 6 months to 9months depending on the breed of chicken.

This does not mean that those chickens that starts laying eggs earlier lay immature or fake eggs. They have been genetically developed to lay eggs at an earlier age. A good example of a great layer breed is the Rhode Island Red chicken which is highly preferred for layer chicken businesses.

How many eggs can a chicken lay before it goes broody?

A normal hen that is well fed and taken care of will lay an average of 10 to 12 eggs before it goes broody. Understand that not all hens are born the same. Some may lay all twelve and eat all due to a bad cannibalism trait, while others may lay all twelve and hatch 100 percent of the eggs.

Going broody for a chicken will most certainly depend on a lot of things. Being a chicken lover will require you to come up with a proper nest for your hen before it goes broody. If you don’t, your chicken will find a place in the wild to lay its eggs. And once it goes broody, it will be very difficult to find it.

Do all hens lay the same number of eggs in a year?

Not all hens lay the same amount of eggs in the year. A lot of things will come into play when considering the number of eggs that a hen will lay;

The genetic background of the hen.
The quality of feed that the hen has been feeding on.

There are different types of breeds of chicken. So many that you couldn’t count them at a go. Every breed of chicken has its strengths and setbacks and obviously, different breeds will lay differently. For example, a Rhode island red hen that is usually kept for eggs more than any other chicken will lay so much more eggs than the silkie chicken that we keep in our homes as a pet.

Do hens need a rooster to lay eggs?

Hens do not need a rooster to lay eggs. Hens actually do quite well without roosters and lay eggs normally. However, if your goal is to breed your own chicken from your hens, then you need a rooster for your hens to lay fertilized eggs. The difference between a fertilized egg and an unfertilized egg is the ability of each of them to hatch at the end of their incubation period.

Fertilization is simply the fusion of the male and female gametes to form a zygote. This will only happen if a rooster (male is available with the hen)