We have 13 BO pullets that are now 13 wks old. Since it is going to be in the middle of winter with shorter days when they are supposed to start laying --will this prolong their laying? Should we put a light in their coop with a timer? Any advice is appreciated.
I've read that chickens need at least 14 hrs of light to lay.....but others on this site have said that they didn't give them extra light and their chickens still layed. I give mine the extra light. Guess I just want to be sure.
Here is a good link to refer too for certain questions. http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chooks.html From my understanding, yes, buff orps are supposed to lay in the winter. Thats one the major reasons for us getting them... besides their friendlyness
Our 5 month olds are laying like crazy now, including Buffy, our Orp. The lights in the barn come on at 7AM, after they already have the morning sun in the window. The lights aren't shut down until 11:30PM. They get 17 hours of light. I know some may say this is too much, but because of our schedule a lot of my chicken time is in the late evening. I'll spend some quality time with the chickens from 10 to 11 after all the chores are done and my kid is in bed. I believe leaving the lights on is better than turning them on after the chickens are already roosting. I have 3 20 watt halogen, under cabinet style lights in the chickens coop area. We also have a few flourescent lights in the barn itself.
I'm in BC Canada, and can tell you that good Orpingtons will lay well through the winter, until the INDOOR coop temp drops below about 36 degrees F. After that egg production will drop sharply. As suggested, supplimental lighting will help you also. I know some coop their chickens all winter with no outdoor access, but I can say from my personal experience that this will reduce production also. Far better to have chickens coming into lay mode in the winter than coming into a heavy moult.