Ancona started laying.... then stopped. Huh?

[Barn Maid Ann]

I am new to this forum, and relatively new to chickens.
We got spoilt by our Comets that we got last year. They layed an egg a day from about 20 weeks of age til 18 months, almost nonstop. We since bought more chicks this year, of many varieties. And now, this fall they are all laying very sporadically, even the comets.

I have one Ancona out of the mix, and she is only 1 out of 2 of the 24 week olds that just started laying. She has produced maybe 3 egges in as many weeks. We weren't sure it was her until I spotted her leaving the coop alone, midday, then finding an egg.
Connie, the Ancona, was an odd chic, but she has grown to be a favorite. She was aloof as a baby, but now seems to be my bestest friend! Not to mention, I LOVE her coloration. She is certainly a beauty!

 

[Curlita]

digitS' :

Erica, Seattle is down to about 9 hours of sunlight right now.

My reading and limited experience with not using a light in the coop, indicates that you can fairly well completely shut the layers off when the light gets down to 8 hours. Just discouraging them from laying probably begins when nights runs longer than 12 hours.

Back in their natural habitat, the wild ancestors of our birds lived between about 5° South and 25° North of the equator. You and I are close to 49° North - big, big difference in hours of daylight and darkness.

I started using a light in the coop just about the time your Tallulah stopped laying.

Steve

Steve, I had finally decided that Tallulah was just super-light sensitive and wouldn't lay again until the spring equinox (since she stopped at the fall equinox) -- which is why I was so surprised to get an egg from her yesterday. From some of the other posts I've been reading, it sounds like a lot of chickens lay through the winter their first year, and then slow down a lot their second year.

I'm slowly learning not to try and make too much sense out of the ways and chickens, and to just collect the eggs when they are there and be philosophical when they are not.​