When do hens start laying? Do I need a rooster for eggs? What color will they be? If you had questions like these, then this post is all about eggs. It's a long post, but it will hopefully answer first time questions as I had to research a lot on my own early on.
Do you need a rooster for eggs? Nope! You only need a rooster if you want the eggs fertilized to become chicks.
What color will the eggs be? It depends on the breed. If you are looking for teal and green. Research which chickens produce those. Eggs come in various colors - white (Leghorn), light peach/pink, light brown/tan (Orpingtons/Australorps), brown, dark brown (Marans), olive green (Olive Eggers), and light blue (Easter Egger, Ameraucana). There's a great graph on this blog.
*Just remember to keep your goals for your flock as the colors are amazing, but some don't produce as much and some may have tougher temperaments.
How many eggs a year does a chicken lay? Depends on the breed again. Many are in the 200's range. I know Australorps can have production into the 300's...the highest recorded for a Australorp being 364. Woowee!
Also, chickens do start to lay less as they age. I've read that it decreases by 20% each year. So, here's the excuse for adding more chicks to your flock each year!
When do chickens start laying? About 6 months. It also depends on their breed.
Do chickens lay year round? Yes, but in the winter they will lay less. Some chicken owners will add a light in the coop to keep production up. If you decide to do this, keep in mind this will shorten the laying years of your chickens. Chickens are born with all their eggs and so if you encourage production in the winter...they will lay less as they age.
Do chickens lay in the early morning? Not always. Sometimes they lay mid morning to even early afternoon. You'll get a feel for when your hens lay, but be sure to collect daily.
Can stress affect chickens' production? Yes, absolutely. Here's some factors - health, bullying, weather (too cold or too hot), and nearby predators (dogs scaring them is a more common thing). If you notice speckled eggs, that is an indication that the chicken did have some stress during the formation of their egg.
Is there a chicken laid an egg song? Yes! It's the song that you hear in movies and cartoons, haha. Here's an example. I've noticed they will sing this before or after.
Where do chickens lay? Hopefully in the nesting box. Young hens starting to lay eggs may lay in random spots. You can buy fake eggs at the farm supply store to put in your nesting box to teach the young hens where to lay and it does work! I did this for about a month and forgot about them. Then one day I reached in the fridge to grab an egg and it weighed nothing! I realized my husband had collected the fake eggs without realizing (he was trying to help me out when I was sick). Gave me a good laugh.
I've collected the eggs, now what? This deserves a whole section.
Don't Wash - The egg has a "bloom" on it's exterior that helps protect the egg and keep bacteria out of the egg. So don't wash your eggs, I know, until you are about to use the egg. When I'm going to use, I use warm water and a little soap to clean the egg before cracking.
Storing - There are many approaches...
Store the egg tip side down as it will keep longer.
Counter Top - Easy access and will keep for a few weeks (definitely don't wash with this storage).
Refrigerate - Longer keeping of the eggs. I use egg crates and rotate the eggs as I use them so the oldest is first. You can buy egg crates at farm stores for like 89 cents.
Freeze - You can crack eggs in a muffin tin and place in the freezer. Then transfer to a bag. Check out here.
Mineral Oil Rub - Check out here
Water Glassing (can last up to 12-18 mos) - This is old school. Use pickling lime (make sure you get the right thing I got the wrong lime to start) and water in a jar or bucket to store them. This is crazy, but legit. Check out this Homesteading Family on YouTube here as they started my journey in trying this.
Freshness Test - The egg test works really well.
Take a bowl of water (room temp is fine).
Place an egg in the bowl of water
Sinks and lays on side - Fresh
Stands up - Not as fresh, but still fine to eat (hard boiled)
Floats - Throw it away
Can you hatch chicks year round? Yes! The rooster does not stop his hopping on the hens when winter comes. He's a busy guy.
What are the ways to hatch chicks?
Hens - You can do the old fashioned method of allowing the hens to do their job. If you have a broody hen (fascination of sitting in the nesting box), this may be a great method. Just keep in mind if you are going to hatch in the winter, eggs and chicks need constant heat. I believe this is why you don't really see chicks in the winter time.
Incubator - You can buy incubators online. They come in various sizes. The incubator is great as you will have that consistent warmth. Get a candler for checking the eggs...this looks like a flashlight, but you set the egg on top and you will be able to see if you have a chicky-doo.
*If the egg wasn't fertilized, can I eat it? Uh, not recommended due to the storage.
Can you eat fertilized eggs? Yes, you can. There's not going to be a fluffy chick immediately, so store your eggs in the fridge and you're good to go. There's talk that fertilized eggs are even better for you!
How do you know if eggs are fertilized? Well, there's no real way to know until you start incubating and checking with a candler. You can't assume that the rooster was successful every time. For instance, fluffier chickens can have more fertility issues due to the way they mate (their cloacas have to make contact).
Does feed impact quality? Absolutely. What you feed your chicken will impact the egg quality (makes sense). Make sure they have access to calcium (oyster shell, ground egg shells, greek yogurt) for forming their egg shells and good feed & forage to produce great yolks and whites.
Chicken Egg Problems? BackYard Chickens Post Chicken egg issues are not a common sight, but good to know about if they do occur.
What can I do with egg shells? There's a couple of things you can do...
Replace Oyster Shell - Egg shells are definitely cheaper than buying oyster shell for your flock's calcium intake.
*Take your egg shells and bake in the oven at 350°F for 10 minutes. This will help remove the smell to discourage egg eating in the coop (yes, that happens). Then in a bag crumble the shells till into super small flecks. That's it, super easy!
Garden - Add egg shells to your soil in the Spring & Fall and it will help with calcium nutrients. You can also use the shells as cups to start seedlings, if you don't have seed starting pods or containers.
Who enjoys scrambled eggs? Not just humans, but dogs and the chickens themselves will enjoy scrambled egg treats. AND it is a good source of protein for all. Our pups go crazy for it. With the chickens, I've used the scrambled eggs to mix in deworming meds as I wanted to do a round to make sure they were good.
Scrambled Egg Cooking Tip: Add salt and pepper (as well as milk or cream) to the eggs and whisk before scrambling. Then cook low and slow. This will easily elevate and produce delicious scrambled eggs that I wouldn't share with the animals, haha.
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