Best breeds to buy

[NatJ]

Yes, hours of light is presumably key to laying. "They" say you need 14 hours of at least low light to keep the hens laying through the winter. That doesn't quite add up though because my girls start back up about the end of February and we don't hit 12 hours of daylight until middle/end of March.

I think increasing or decreasing light causes different effects than constant light.

And I don't know how you are counting hours of daylight, but the chickens might be sensitive to lower levels than what you were counting. Any source that measures from sunrise to sunset misses twilight (which is very short near the equator, but can last for quite a while when you get out toward the poles.)

 

[sybonbon]

Yes, hours of light is presumably key to laying. "They" say you need 14 hours of at least low light to keep the hens laying through the winter. That doesn't quite add up though because my girls start back up about the end of February and we don't hit 12 hours of daylight until middle/end of March.

It's the light of the moon, the stars and the street lights. Lol

 

[bruceha2000]

That is true Nat. Civil twilight adds about 1/2 hour to both ends of the sun period. Nautical twilight adds 1 hour. I don't light the coop in the winter but from what I've read the amount of light needed is really quite low, might be equivalent to nautical twilight.

 

[MysteryChicken]

Does that even exist in the Continental US? We hit well into the 90's and even "feels like" over 100°F this past summer. Can't get a whole lot more north than where I am!


Not in my experience. NONE of the breeds I have had laid other than their first winter. And that includes "winter layers" like Salmon Faverolles and Partridge Chantecler. I guess "your mileage may vary" is the key here.

I do nothing fancy.

 

[Seesagirl]

Sooooo...I went a little crazy. My hubby was at Rural King for non chicken reasons and I asked him to go over and see what breeds they had. Which resulted in me and the kids trekking over to get chicks. The plan WAS to only get 6, but the chicken math was STRONG tonight! Hubby gave me the nod to get whatever we can afford, the kids were looking at me with puppy eyes, they had breeds I wanted, and to top it off the guy in charge told me they were all $2.99. So my 6 chicks turned into 16.
3 lavender orpingtons
2 buff orpingtons
2 black australorps
3 cinnamon queens
2 prairie blue bells
2 sapphire splash
1 midnight majesty maran
1 ameraucana

 

[bruceha2000]

I sure hope your coop and run area area big enough!!!!

That "Ameraucana" is surely an Easter Egger. Nothing wrong with them, they are presently 1/5th of my flock of 25.

 

[Seesagirl]

I sure hope your coop and run area area big enough!!!!

That "Ameraucana" is surely an Easter Egger. Nothing wrong with them, they are presently 1/5th of my flock of 25.

Our coop is 8x8 and our run will be HUGE. They'll be running between 2 garden areas for pest control lol, and the area will be about 8x100. And plenty of room for more run; we have almost 5 acres.

And we love EEs, we had one a few years ago and she was a sweetheart!

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Our coop is 8x8 and our run will be HUGE. They'll be running between 2 garden areas for pest control lol, and the area will be about 8x100. And plenty of room for more run; we have almost 5 acres.

And we love EEs, we had one a few years ago and she was a sweetheart!

8x8 is 64, which is just large enough for 16 if going by the general reccomendations

 

[Seesagirl]

8x8 is 64, which is just large enough for 16 if going by the general reccomendations

You can have less room per chicken if you have a large run, which we will. We had a 6x6 coop for a flock of over 20 birds at our old house. They were fine until the bears came for dinner.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

You can have less room per chicken if you have a large run, which we will. We had a 6x6 coop for a flock of over 20 birds at our old house. They were fine until the bears came for dinner.

Like I said, general recommendations. Not set in stone