Generally speaking, a hen reaches egg-laying age at roughly five months of age. The Lab hens, Sweet and Sour, both started laying in early to mid October. Since then, they've laid the average one egg every 25 hours. This laying schedule is based on the hen's reproductive system. Shortly after the eggs is laid, the hen's body starts to produce the next one. Once the yolk is released, it is about a 25 hour process to assemble the rest of the egg around it until it is ready to lay. 

In a typical week, Sweet and Sour begin by laying quite early in the morning. By the time they're being checked on, there's usually two eggs. By midweek, it becomes less likely that eggs will be found first thing in the morning. Instead, the hens start to lay later in the morning, sometimes as late as noon. Toward the weekend, it is expected that we'll find just one egg, as each hen skips one laying day. Typically, Sweet and Sour lay twelve eggs per week.

​Except for this week....

 On Thursday, two eggs were collected as expected. Friday morning, only one egg was expected. Imagine the surprise when at 8:30am three eggs are found (picture on the left)! It was a very exciting find. We meant to share this find immediately, but wanted to do some research first since it was so unexpected. No eggs were expected for Saturday morning, but again there were three!

Based on what we know, we hypothesize the following:
We think the picture on the left has two eggs laid by Sour. These eggs are usually more elongated and speckled. Sweet, on the other hand, tends to lay rounder, smaller eggs. This leads us to believe that the picture on the right has two eggs by Sweet and one by Sour.

According to our research, its possible for hens to lay more than one egg per cycle, but it doesn't happen often. When it does occur, its usually in mature hens, during their first year of laying, and is not something that continues for an ongoing period of time.

Tomorrow is Sunday and no eggs are expected. Stay tuned....

It's been very exciting having the chickens at the Lab and interacting with them. We've learned a lot! One question we get very often is 'what happens with the chickens in the winter?' Excellent question!

​Normally, when you think of where chickens live, you don't automatically picture them in a cold and snowy climate. Fact is, when it comes to chickens, you have over 500 pure breeds and an almost endless combination of mixed breeds. The type of chicken and its adaptations determine where it can live and thrive. The Kiddie Science Lab chickens, Sweet and Sour, are New England breeds, able to withstand cold, long winters. In addition to their adaptations, which we'll explore more in a bit, the hens have excellent accommodations. Shielded from the rain/snow and wind, the coop windows and doors can all be shut tight in bitterly cold nights. So far, on the coldest nights, we've closed all but one opening because it actually stays pretty warm in there.

After a very active and vocal morning, Sour hopped up on the windowsill and laid an egg! The first eggs are normally small in size, roughly 2 inches. In an effort to encourage the chicken to lay its eggs inside the nesting box, we received egg-cellent advice and placed an object of similar shape as an egg inside the box. The hope was that the chickens would take the hint that this is where you lay your eggs.

Although it wasn't first thing in the morning, the following afternoon, Sour laid her second egg and this time it was in the nesting box. In time, both chickens will lay an egg per day and will eventually be earlier in the day versus the staggered times we have now.

Below you can see the three eggs we have so far.
​What observations can you make on how they have changed?