I don't deliberately set out to give my girls a break - I just don't bother with lights. I added chicks in the spring so my pullets are laying very well through the winter - I average between 9-13 eggs a day with the pullets and only one adult laying regularly. That's just fine with me. I figure I wanted them as chickens, not Pez dispensers so I'm content to just follow the seasons naturally. I bucked that trend once, hatching out a chick under a broody in late fall. Big mistake - he ended up with frostbitten feet when our temps went from the 60s and 70s all through October and plummeted to 17 below zero in 26 hours.
I feed All Flock or Maintainece diet all year. Then I don't have to worry about food when I add chicks or have a roo. Chicks and roos don't need the extra calcium and the girls get theirs in the form of oyster shell kept in a little container. Mine get treats, but not too many. In winter one of the things I do like to do is hang those little suet cages with a suet cake in their run once a week or so. They love attacking it, keeps winter boredom at bay, and I don't know if the extra fat helps them that much but it makes me feel like I doing a little extra for them.
I have several friends who do use lights in the winter. They are happy with that choice, and I don't consider them cruel for expecting eggs year round. I don't use lights. I'm happy with that choice too and don't consider myself an odd man (or woman) out. It's up to you what you want to do. If there was only one way to raise and manage chickens this entire web site could be read in half an hour!
I feed All Flock or Maintainece diet all year. Then I don't have to worry about food when I add chicks or have a roo. Chicks and roos don't need the extra calcium and the girls get theirs in the form of oyster shell kept in a little container. Mine get treats, but not too many. In winter one of the things I do like to do is hang those little suet cages with a suet cake in their run once a week or so. They love attacking it, keeps winter boredom at bay, and I don't know if the extra fat helps them that much but it makes me feel like I doing a little extra for them.
I have several friends who do use lights in the winter. They are happy with that choice, and I don't consider them cruel for expecting eggs year round. I don't use lights. I'm happy with that choice too and don't consider myself an odd man (or woman) out. It's up to you what you want to do. If there was only one way to raise and manage chickens this entire web site could be read in half an hour!
