How many eggs can a chicken lay per day?

Answer

Dear Aaron,

Ready for some math? Let’s take a step-by-step look at what exactly happens to an egg before a chicken finally lays it.

To begin with, the chicken makes it easy for us: a chicken has only 1 ovary, on which the maturing eggs only go through ovulation 1 by 1. So we only have to take into account a single egg cell at a time. The ovulation of a mature egg cell usually takes place about 7 to 9 hours after darkness falls. Let’s set the clock to zero right now.

After ovulation, the egg is collected by the fallopian tube. This takes about fifteen minutes to half an hour. The ovum then only consists of a large mass of yolk (egg yolk) with a germinal disc at the top from which (after fertilization) the chick can grow as an embryo.
During the descent, the egg white is first applied around the yolk. This takes about 2 to 3 hours. Then it is the turn of the egg membranes (You probably know the egg membranes if you have ever eaten a hard-boiled egg: if you tap the egg shell so that it bursts into small pieces, the pieces will not just fall off the egg off: they still stick together thanks to the egg membranes on the inside of the shell). The creation of the egg membranes takes about 1 hour.
Finally, the hard egg shell is created around the egg. This takes about 18 to 21 hours. During the last 5 hours of this period, the egg shell also acquires its brown color.
Once the egg is finished, it takes about 1 hour before the chicken actually lays the egg. After that it is still about half an hour to an hour and a half before a new ovulation takes place and we can go through this whole sequence again.

The total time between two successive eggs laid by the same chicken is therefore theoretically 10:45 pm – 28 hours, with an average of 25 to 26 hours. Young chickens usually get the job done a little faster, with older chickens it sometimes takes a little longer.

In practice, this means that an average chicken can lay 1 egg every day, but that this always happens a little later in the day. If the time of laying after a number of days has shifted by about 8 to 10 hours compared to the first day of laying, then a break of 1 or 2 days is taken and the hen does not lay any eggs. Then a new laying series starts and the cycle is resumed at the original starting time.

Another factor that also ensures that you absolutely cannot expect 365 eggs per hen per year is the annual moulting period in the fall. During this period of 4 to 6 weeks, the chicken changes her plumage and egg production is temporarily stopped.
Even if you do not remove the eggs from the chicken coop every day and therefore give the chicken the chance to brood, its egg production will come to a standstill.

You really can’t increase the production rate of the animals. Breeding chickens that have several ovulations at the same time is not a good idea, because the different yolks will still be packed in one and the same shell (egg white, egg membranes and egg shell). This way you get eggs with two or more yolks (see the attached photo). These so-called double eggs often occur at the start of the laying period.

Chickens do not start laying eggs until they are 5 to 6 months old. About ten days before the first egg lay, the comb and wattles of the chickens will turn red instead of pale whitish, a sign that you can also keep an eye out for.

And, dear Aron, if after all this numbering this bill still doesn’t add up to your chickens’ house, remember that you know math, but your chickens don’t because of that…