Will Hens Lay Eggs Longer/All Year in Temperate Climates??

[taffers]

I'm new to all this so sorry for all the questions, and thank you for all your help!

So I've read that hens can lay as early as 16 weeks, and that they don't lay at all in winter due to less sun?

I live in Southern California with very temperate climate...it's common for us to be at 78 degrees for Christmas! Will the hens lay longer or possibly all year here?

Also, I think I read that some of my breeds can lay all year- does anyone have experience with this?

I have Easter Eggers, Buff Orpingtons, Barred Rocks, Wydonette and Red Star/Golden Buff.

I'm wondering if it will be at all possible for them to start laying this year (they were born on 7/9/14)- I was assuming that I wouldn't get eggs until next spring.

 

[sumi]

The average age for a pullet to start laying is 25 weeks, but some breeds do start way sooner (and some way later!). If you do a search here on the average laying age of the breeds you've got you will get a good idea from others' experiences. Just type "average laying age of <breed>" into the search bar above.

I've been keeping chickens in South Africa where the climate is very mild. Winter days are cold and short, but we seldom got snow. My hens slowed down a bit over winter, I'd have to guess egg production dropped by around 40% without additional lighting in the coop. My flock consisted of half and half home bred mutts and Lohman browns. They started laying on average at around 22 weeks of age, regardless of the time of year. The mutts outlaid the Lohmans any time of the year though.

At the moment I have 3 hatchery quality RIR hens that started laying earlier this year (I'll have to check when, I can't remember off the top of my head now). They are still going strong, in spite of the shorter days. (We're in mid-winter now).

When I lived in Ireland the days were VERY short and we had a much harsher winter (lots of snow). My RIR and Leghorns laid like champions over winter, while my Bluebell and Java bantam X's slowed down a bit, but still produced eggs on a fairly regular basis. I don't know how old they were as I bought them all as mature, laying hens.

I hope this helps some

 

[taffers]

Yes, that's very helpful, thank you! It's exciting to hear that I might be able to get some eggs this year.