what time do chickens lay?

[Sparkly]

Our first chicken came into lay 11 days ago and has laid 1 egg per day  ;D. At first she was laying at about 9.30ish in the morning, but the last few days it has been much later in the day. Today she had not laid and we thought she was just having a break. When it went dark they all went to bed; when I went to check on them she was asleep on an egg in the nestbox! She certainly laid this later than 4pm in the dark! Is this normal?

[Sparkly]

[saddad]

When we kept hens we found it varied... they had a preference for over night/early mornings but some would lay later in the day...  :-\

[Nigel B]

Ours vary. During summer I check twice a day for eggs.
With winter almost upon us, they will lay less as they start to use much more of their energy just keeping warm...

[goodlife]

Yes it is normal...it will take time for your newly laying girls to establish their laying time..and even then is not always as rule.
They will become more "regular" when summer comes ;)..but before that expect anything.

[Sparkly]

Thanks all  ;D

[kt.]

When in high production mode - prolific hen layers lay one egg on average every 25 hours. 

[Sparkly]

ah ha so it is expected for the time to change each day? I was expecting the hen to have a specific laying time.

[Anisemary]

They will normally lay an hour or so later than the previous day (when they are in full swing!) and after 5 or 6 days mine normally miss a day completely and start very early the following morning, and so it starts again. And don't take any notice of most books which tell you that hens won't lay after 3pm, I have known mine to lay up to 6.30pm in the height of summer!