Considering your first flock of chickens? Learn about what to expect from backyard laying chickens, from oddly shaped chicken eggs to broodiness and more.
The ability to produce your own food is an appealing skill in today’s society. A garden overflowing with fresh vegetables and a coop full of friendly laying hens can bring a sense of peace and security.
While starting a flock of poultry and keeping it healthy does require some work, farm-fresh eggs right outside your back door are a wonderful commodity to have, especially as the cost of eggs fluctuates. But maybe you’re staring at your fledgling flock that’s yet to lay a single egg and wondering, “What now?” Or, perhaps you haven’t even tackled the task of choosing your chickens and are feeling overwhelmed by the options. Either way, knowing what to expect from your layers will get you off to a strong start.
Choosing the Right Chickens
Knowing the intended purpose of your new flock can be helpful when determining which breeds and characteristics are best for your family. The future of your flock is also something to consider, as not all breeds (such as hybrids) are able to reproduce purebred offspring. If you intend to breed and hatch poultry on your own, do some research and avoid breeds that aren’t capable of this, such as Freedom Rangers or Austra Whites.
You should also consider your environment when choosing chickens. Cold- and heat-tolerance in birds is important, especially if you live in an extreme climate. If your winters are particularly nasty, choose breeds with rose combs instead of single combs, and with smaller wattles so they have less exposed skin at risk of frostbite. Anconas, Minorcas, Rhode Island Reds, Nankins, and Leghorns are all good choices for cold-tolerant birds. For heat-tolerant breeds, consider New Hampshires, Brahmas, White Leghorns, Sumatras, Plymouth Rocks, Easter Eggers, and Andalusians. You’ll also need to consider the bird’s age, size, and disposition, and whether you want strictly egg-layers or prefer dual-purpose breeds.
You can purchase chickens as fertile hatching eggs to be hatched in a home incubator, as day-old chicks shipped straight from the hatchery, or as started pullets that are generally at least 15 weeks old. For beginning chicken-keepers, day-old chicks are a good option, because they don’t require as much monitoring as an incubator full of eggs, nor will they be nearly as expensive to ship as started pullets. If you can find a few healthy, mature hens locally, you can often purchase them inexpensively, making them a good option to start your flock.
Poultry can produce eggs in a beautiful rainbow of colors, from brown and white to blue and green. And while eggshell color has no effect on the taste or nutritional value of an egg, it can be fun to have a variety of colorful eggs in your basket. Good options for brown-egg layers include Rhode Island Reds, Wyandottes, Barred Plymouth Rocks, Dominiques, and Buff Orpingtons. For white eggs, consider White Leghorns. For colored eggs, look into Ameraucanas or Cream Legbars.
When Will My Hens Start Laying?
There’s nothing quite like the excitement of finding that first egg in a nest. Pullets will generally start laying between 16 and 24 weeks of age. If a flock doesn’t begin laying once the birds have reached the appropriate age, look for any signs of stress, such as constant preening, aggressiveness, pacing, or restlessness. Look for molting, which usually happens in fall but can occur at any time of year. Sometimes hens that have gone broody (nest-sitting). Broody hens hatching eggs stop laying altogether. You’ll also want to check that your birds have the proper feed rations and are getting enough nutrition, that they aren’t sick or injured in any way, and that there are plenty of daylight hours to trigger their reproductive systems. Chickens need at least 14 hours of daylight to produce eggs. During winter, egg production might begin to slow and then eventually stop as the days grow shorter.
The entire egg-production process starts with a hen ovulating and pushing the yolk (ovum) into the oviduct. The egg is then made from the inside out as the egg white forms around the yolk and then the shell is produced. Production of the shell takes the longest amount of time, about 20 hours of the entire 24-to-26-hour process. Within 30 minutes to an hour or more after an egg is laid, the chicken will release another ovum, starting the whole process over again.
Fertilization by a rooster isn’t needed for egg production, which is why a flock of hens can continue to lay eggs without any rooster present. If you’d like to breed and hatch chicks, though, you’ll need to get a rooster.
Even if you have a rooster, you can still eat freshly laid eggs without worrying about finding a developing embryo — just don’t wait too long to gather them.
Odd-Shaped Chicken Eggs
In the beginning of their egg-laying days, you may find yourself with some odd-sized or odd-shaped chicken eggs from your young pullets. For example, some might appear cone-shaped on one end or extremely small in size. You might even find some eggs that have a double yolk on the inside as the pullet is still working the bugs out of her egg-laying process. Oddly shaped eggs are something to be expected with new pullets and nothing to be concerned about. Hens lay eggs for 2 to 4 years (but can live up to 10 years), and then gradually stop.
If you come across an egg that seems to have a very thin shell or almost no shell at all (a soft shell), the hen possibly endured some stress before laying and then laid the egg prematurely, or she might be lacking calcium or vitamin D. Laying eggs requires a good deal of calcium. If a hen isn’t getting enough calcium in her diet, calcium can begin to leach from her bones and other calcium stores. To help prevent this, make sure the feed rations are appropriate for your flock. If you need to add calcium into their existing diet, you can mix crushed oyster shell directly into their regular feed or offer it free-choice in a separate dish.
Why Aren’t My Hens Laying?
At some point in your chicken-keeping journey, there may come a time when your daily egg count begins to dwindle or eventually stop. If you’re near the shortest days of the year the slowdown in production is likely from the lack of daylight hours. You can let your flock have some time to rest before the birds begin laying again when the days grow long enough, or you can place an artificial light in the coop on a timer. Make sure it’s a warm-tinted light and hung from a safe space so as not to catch any of the litter or straw on fire.
At times, a failure to lay eggs might indicate a physical problem with a hen. If you notice a bird walking around like a penguin (with its bottom near the ground) or acting lethargic with no interest in eating or drinking, you might have an egg-bound hen, meaning an egg is stuck in her oviduct.
If not attended to quickly, egg binding can eventually lead to death. After you’ve determined a hen is egg-bound, apply a water-based lubricant to her vent and very gently massage her abdomen. Be careful not to break the egg. You can also soak the chicken’s bottom in a warm Epsom salt bath. Fill a plastic tote or container with enough warm water to cover the lower body and vent of the bird and then add Epsom salt. (It’s not an exact science, but 1 to 2 cups of Epsom salt per gallon of water should do the trick.) Place the chicken inside and allow it to soak for 10 to 20 minutes. If it’s cool outside, dry off the hen and keep her warm and calm before soaking her again, if the egg hasn’t passed. If, after a few baths, the egg is still stuck, you’ll need to call a veterinarian.
What to Do with All Those Eggs
If the humorous effects of “chicken math” occur and you suddenly find yourself with more birds and eggs than you know what to do with, you’ll have to find some new ways to use the surplus.
Thankfully, there are a ton of ways to use fresh eggs, including classic recipes for deviled eggs, egg salad, quiche, custard, breakfast muffins, and eggs goldenrod. A quick search online or through a recipe book will reveal plenty of egg-based recipes to try. One of my favorites is my mother’s overnight breakfast casserole with bread, sausage, and eggs.
If you’d like to save your eggs for later, you can learn how to store eggs long-term using a variety of methods, including dehydrating, freezing individual yokes or whites in ice trays, pickling, freeze-drying, and water-glassing.
If you find your counters are still completely overrun with eggs, consider sharing with those around you. Friends and neighbors who don’t raise chickens will likely be thrilled to receive some farm-fresh eggs. For a gift-giving occasion, a basket of eggs makes a lovely gift, and you can add some extra flair by including homemade egg noodles and other goodies, such as homemade (or locally sourced) sausage, cheese, mustard, bread, and jams and jellies.
Local food banks are another great option for gracing others with your egg abundance. Before dropping them off, call ahead to find out if the food bank has specific directions for delivering fresh eggs.
Ashleigh Krispense is a farmer’s wife and freelance writer from central Kansas, where she lives with her husband, Kolton, and their menagerie of critters. You can follow along with her recipes and ramblings on her website, Prairie Gal Cookin’.
Image by Flickr/Mazaletel (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Originally published as “All About Chicken Eggs” in the May/June 2023 issue of Grit magazine and regularly vetted for accuracy.
