Will Chickens lay in the winter?

[BrineChickFarm]

Hi there! I'm new to BYC and also to raising chicks! My chicks are only 2-3 weeks old, so it looks like they wont be at the right age for laying until mid to late November. Will chickens lay in the winter? (I live in NH)

Thanks!

Amanda

 

[Fred's Hens]

It will depend on many factors.

Coming to POL or point of lay, in November is tricky. The days are getting awfully short in the far north. So, while I hesitate to say this, as many people do not wish to add any supplemental hours of light, giving them a few hours of pre-dawn lighting, just a few hours, will kick start them, as a rule. Most folks use a simple, bare bulb, and set it up on a timer, having it click on at 5:30 am and click off at 8 am.

First year pullets do indeed lay very well their first winter. They don't really need much "help". They don't need to be pushed. It's their nature to be your best winter layers. The out years? Not nearly as prolific. That too is quite natural. For one thing, they'll need to take a break and moult. Hope that helps.

 

[BrineChickFarm]

It does, thank you so much!

 

[RonC]

I've also heard that the added light will help keep them laying in the winter. I thought about it and decided I would not add a light to give them somewhat of a vacation rather than push their production. Mine are more my pets that make me breakfast than a business.

 

[GoodwinMaine]

Our girls lay all winter, just not as dependably.

Fellow New Englander

 

[twilightgecko]

glad i found this thread.. my girls are 29 weeks old, and most are just coming into their laying an egg a day mode.. i live in upstate n.y. right now we only have 9 hours of daylight.. thought it was odd that they are laying so well.. i am not using any artificial light..

 

[George8207]

You may need to protect the bulb from being pecked and broken. I made a roost area with a clear roof but also added a light bulb for warmth. The chickens kept breaking the light - clear bulb and yellow bulb. I finally took a large coffee can and put it around the light with a screen over the open end. It worked.

In constructing the roost I used styrofoam sheets for siding. The chickens ate it so it was quickly replaced with plywood and covered with plastic sheeting. Didn't want the chickens to suffer from eating the styrofoam.

 

[George8207]

I have 12 hens and a rooster. About eight of the hens are old enough to be laying but I only get from one to three eggs a day. I was getting one very large egg - about 2 to 3 times a normal egg size - every 4 days. After about 5 or 6 eggs, the hen quit laying. I was considering hatching some of her eggs next summer, but after reading that hens laying huge eggs suffer a lot while laying them, I decided that wouldn't be a good idea. Also would rather get about an egg a day rather than one large egg every 4 days.

I live in South Eastern North Carolina so we haven't had very cold weather - frost and perhaps a few light freezes, This is the first laying season for all of them so the lack of eggs must be due to the short days. I only need 4 eggs a day, so in spite of not using night lights, I feel when all the hens are laying age I should get that many daily. Except for two white leghorns (one laying almost daily, the other not laying yet), three are a yellow breed and the others are a mixture of dark feathered hens. One is shorter than the rest and has feathers covering her head.

I free range them on about a half acre but the bugs must be in short supply as I notice they are consuming a lot more out of the feeder. Currently I am feeding them laying mash (not pellets), whole grain oats and whole grain corn. I hope to soon be able to buy a well rounded supply of grains and make my own feed but some of the recipes I copied get quite extensive in ingredients.