You often hear the term "point of lay" in association with buying or selling chickens so what does point of lay actually mean? Simply, the term "point of lay" means hens which have matured to the stage when they should be starting to lay eggs.
The time it usually takes for a good laying breed of chicken to reach point of lay is between 16 – 20 weeks old. However, individual chickens can start laying earlier or several weeks later. Often, producers will market pullets (young hens) as point of lay when they are in fact several weeks away from laying so don't always expect your newly "point of lay" hens to be producing eggs right away (see this post for more information).
The main advantage of buying hens at the point of lay (besides getting your eggs earlier) is less cost in feed. The buyer can let the producer grow the bird to egg producing maturity rather than spending money on nurturing and specialist feed before the birds begin earning their keep.
