Factors Influencing Egg Production in Chickens: From Seasons to Health
When do chickens start laying eggs?
More often, chickens start laying eggs at 18 weeks or 5-6 months of age, and then onward, they lay eggs every day with the gap of 24-26 hours. In the first year, from the time egg production in chickens is started and they lay their first egg, healthy and well-fed backyard chickens can be expected to lay 250 eggs.
Factors affecting rate of egg production
There are many factors which affect the rate of eggs production like light, temperature/season, stress, poor nutrition/chicken health, breed, molt and age.
Seasons
Some of the chicken’s breeds can lay eggs throughout the year but there are some varieties which stop laying eggs during wintertime especially in december. Winter weather is not good for raising chicks and this can be sensed by hens and they stop laying eggs.
Daylight
Layers need 14-16 hours of light for strong eggs production. Decrease in number of hours does affect egg yield and stops the production of eggs due to hormonal response.
Coop Environment
If the layers are unhappy or stressed they lay less eggs. Stress can be due to over crowded coops, too much heat or humid or cold.
To avoid such stresses coops should be
- Airy, well protected from predators and
- Spacious, about 4 square feet indoor and 5-10 square feet of outdoor space should be given to each chicken.
- Their bedding should be clean and dry
Chickens health
Just like other species, health is correlated with happiness of chickens and consequently with hen productivity rate. If the quality of life is better the sooner it will start laying eggs and eggs would be of good quality.
Eggs production is dependent on chicken health and chicken health can be maintained with all the nutrients necessary for chicken health.
There are 38 nutrients necessary for good health. Calcium is the major nutrient for laying hens because calcium is the main constituent of egg shells. Laying eggs should consume 4 grams of calcium each day.
Always give clean and fresh water to laying chickens.
Molt
Molting in chickens starts at the age of 18 months and then the molting process is repeated annually, it occurs in autumn. While molting, chickens also reduce eggs production, because molting is a process in which old feathers are shed off and new feathers are formed. So chickens stop laying eggs because their body nutrients are diverted to make new feathers rather than eggs.Molting lasts for 8-16 weeks and when the chickens grow their new set of feathers they return back to their normal laying routine.
Hen age
Hens typically begin laying eggs around 16 weeks of age, reaching peak production shortly after their first lay. However, as they age, the number of eggs per year gradually decreases. By the age of 6-7 years, hens usually cease laying eggs altogether.
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Chicken Breeds
Smaller breeds e.g. Austrolorps and Leghorns give a maximum number of eggs as compared to heavier breeds e.g. Plymouth Rocks, Wyandottes and Orpingtons they start later to lay eggs. But it is also a fact that if your flock comprises all Leghorn hens it doesn’t mean that they all start laying eggs simultaneously and give the same number of eggs, so the number of eggs also varies from hen to hen of the same breed too.
You may want to know chicken rate in Lahore.