Chickens laying right now

[Southernchickens]

Does anyone else have chickens in southern Alabama and they are laying right now? My oldest six (probably 2 years old) stopped before winter and I have some young chickens I bought last year that should be laying. Anyone else have any problems? Is there anything I can do to get them to start laying again. Once they started laying last year they laid eggs like crazy.

 

[faykokoWV]

I'm north of you, but if you put a light in the coop that will get them started. you can also increase their protein with a supplemental feed like calf manna.
They usually lay less when the days are shorter.

 

[terrilhb]

I'm in ga. And I put a light in the house and my hens lay everyday.

 

[Southernchickens]

Do you run your light in the coop all night or only a certain number of hours? I put a light in their coop today and was wondering how long to run it.

 

[sben451]

I have been having similar problems. My older hens 2 yrs. old and 3 yrs. old quit laying a couple of months ago and are just beginning to lay a little now. I have hens that hatched last spring who did not lay in the fall as I anticipated and are just now beginning to lay a few eggs. Seems to have been a weird few months for my layers--normally the hens hatched in early spring are laying in Aug. or Sept., but things didn't turn out that way for my hens last fall. I sure hope they pick up the pace--they're eating a lot of feed. I have not yet tried giving them extra light, but I do feed plenty of protein (22% layer pellets and BOSS occasionally).

 

[booker81]

Are they molting?

 

[faykokoWV]

when running a light in the coop, I've been advised that its best to put it on a timer and to have it turn on extra early and turn off before dusk. This prolongs the day, but also gets them to bed at the right time. Not a good plan if you have neighbors that mind the roo crowing at 4 am. The concern with running the light later at night is the sudden shut off of the light doesn't allow everyone to get set on the roost before it goes out and can lead to injury.