winter laying and lights

TalkALittle,
Hadn't thought about the sectioning off disrupting them. They appeared ok with it. I made nesting buckets for them to use while sectioned off, and lo and behold one went and gave an egg in one in just a few hours the first day. With the sectioning off they still have sight of all the other girls so as to not totally remove them from each other.
My boy lucas is very good to them. For a while I wasn't sure if they were doing anything. So close observation one day, they actually yielded to him and just squatted for him without him having to peck the back of their neck and jump on them and very little squawking.
Like you said, I guess the subtle change in routine must be enough to throw them off.
I'll just stick with what i'm doing for the time bein so this will be their new habit until i collect enough to incubate.
Like i said, this is my first run with the breeding and attempts to incubate. Thank you all for the trouble shooting and advice.
 
donrae, 

my delawares are not quite 1 year yet.  they were rockin and rolling all summer, fall, and into winter.  the group as a whole has averaged 5-7 eggs a day, even as of today.  but with previous set up, i had no way of knowing which girls were laying.  in current set up, i have delawares set aside and know exactly which eggs are theirs and for first time able to know what they're doing.  i've always caught them in the nest box in old set up, but never really been able to say they're laying x-number of eggs.  light was added about 3 weeks ago


Assuming everything else is fine, the supplemental lighting sets off a chain of events in the hen that will take about three weeks to near completion. So, basically, you should start seeing an increase in production from here forward. It's not instantaneous.

If you're really interested in the nitty-gritty of the hormone cycles, I can go into more detail but the gist of what I'm saying is: patience grasshopper...
 
Changing the light duration so drastically and suddenly can cause stress too.
Yes, it needs to be above the roost, mine light is at 8'... roost is at about 3'.

I've been using lighting for the 3rd winter now, it helps but results have been varied,
not a 'light switch' kind of thing haha!

Here's a pretty good article on supplemental lighting.

Gathering eggs for late winter hatching is fraught with issues....
....not laying, not mating, gathering eggs before they freeze......
 

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