winter laying

I have been lurking on this site for a couple of months but have never posted. This time I would like to share my first experience of owning chickens. I bought 6 Delaware chicks from Tractor Supply in the first week of August without prior knowledge. My first worrisome encounter were pasty...

Hey yall, my 2 black australorp hens were acquired in June 2023 at 6 weeks and started laying in September. They laid beautifully for the first couple of months about an egg a day from each (even though the eggs are quite small) but they just recently (10ish) days ago stopped laying completely...

Background: We recently adopted a neglected Black Spanish/Norfolk turkey. Now, when I say "neglected," I mean left to her own devices at [I'm assuming] a young age and in an area that is not suitable for unfettered free-ranging, unless of course, you enjoy shoveling your fowl off the street or...

We have 16 hens (and a rooster) - 6 barred rocks, 6 easter eggers, and 4 welsummers. They were born in August and are about 14 weeks currently if my calculations are right . . . So obviously we're not expecting any eggs yet, but are contemplating the pros and cons of adding supplemental light...

Bit of a weird one here. I've six hens of various breeds- two rhode island reds, a bluebell, a marbar, a buff-barred-rock and one that is potentially an astrolorp. They have total free range of our garden year round, about an acre, and are free to forage etc. on top of their daily feed of...

I have 6 free range (UK) hens and four started laying pretty much daily a month or so ago and for three of these it's their first eggs (chicks from the summer). I have had chickens for as long as I can remember and we have always just accepted that they stop laying in winter (and never made any...

So im doing an experiment. It is winter and my hens are not laying as many eggs by far. I have read up on using cayenne pepper in water for hens to help increase egg production. Some say it works, others say its an old wise tale. From what I read it takes 2 days to take effect. It will not hurt...

I have a flock of five hens, 3-4 years old. I have some pretty consistent layers. Their production went down in past winters, but for 1 month we haven't got any eggs! We are in Denver, CO. The days and nights have even been seasonally "warm" - night time temps between 20 and 40 degrees. All...

Coming up on my first winter with the chickens, and I’m very thankful for all the winterizing advice I’ve received here. (“No heat, no heat, no heat” is my mantra). I have two buffs and a barred rock. Her sister met an unhappy fate with a hawk last month, and the loss was a hard pill to...

Hello, I would like to ask if any of you have any experience with chicken laying regularly in winter. One of my silky chickens is still laying eggs, but they became very fragile 2 or 3 days ago. The shell is very thin and I think she may have become broody as she is returning to the nest and it...

Can rose-combed Mediterranean breeds like leghorns and minorcas adapt to cold climates? Will they be happy? Will they be capable of laying eggs? Will they be capable of reproducing?

It is said that if we incubate in the winter months using eggs from hens which can continue laying in the winter and from roosters capable of fertilizing the eggs in the winter, we can hatch chicks that will be great winter layers. Let's discuss it.

I've noticed that all my girls lay the day before a big storm (which happens occasionally at other times, but certainly isn't an every day occurrence). Additionally, the day or two after the storm aren't usually good egg production days. Is there any science behind this? I would hypothesize that...

I got my 6 hens as chicks on March 23 of 2017 and I haven't gotten any eggs yet. I raised 6 for a friend as well and their 6 have started laying, his 6 were integrated into an existing flock and mine were the start of a new one. i have 3 Rhode island reds, 1 barred rock, and 2...

My 7month old Black Copper Maran just started laying 1 month ago. She was laying pretty regularly, one egg every other day or so up until about 7 days ago. I know with the daylight hours getting shorter chicken laying schedules get changed up a bit, but I haven't had one egg from Cilantro (BCM)...

Hello! This will be my first winter with my hens. I feel confident about my plans for them being warm/dry enough, however, I wanted to get people's thoughts on having artificial light to encourage laying in the winter months. I've been seeing some differing opinions and would love to hear others :)

What time of year (or month) would be good to start saving eggs instead of selling? We currently have a flock size of 13, with egg production between 7-9 eggs per day as we still have littles that aren't laying yet. I'd like to save enough to provide 3-5 dozen eggs per month for the months...

I want to hatch some chicks in February, so that by the time they are out of the brooder, it will be Spring. But the problem is getting the eggs out of my hens in December. I have one hen in particular that I want chicks from, so it's really important that she lay as many as possible in a week's...