Cold snap Killed the Egg?

[WoodCarver]

About 3-4 weeks ago we had a week long cold snap -10 deg hens stopped laying. I had three heat lamps running 24-7 but We still lost a hen during that first week. Then about two weeks ago we ran into another cold snap for a couple of days but it was not as cold. Anyways from November, right up to that first cold snap, we were getting 10-16 eggs a day. After that cold week we have not seen any eggs.... Do i just wait or is there something i can do to get production going again?

 

[bobbi-j]

It seems that there may be something else going on. Tell us more about your flock. How many chickens do you have? What breeds and how old? How are they housed? How big is your coop in feet by feet? Run size? Do they free range at all? What do you feed them (including treats)? Did you have heat lamps on them before the cold snap hit, or just when it got that cold?

If they were kept in a dry, well ventilated coop, a healthy hen would not have died at -10* temps. I don't use heat at all in my coops in the winter and it regularly can get down to the negative teens and twenties. I didn't lose a single chicken this winter due to cold. (There was, however, a mink that found its way into the coop...)

Sometimes a drastic change in weather can affect laying. Change of any kind can throw them off.

 

[WoodCarver]

i have around 30 (reds, speckled ones, and easter egg hens) heheheh i can't remember the breeds and one turkey. the coop is 12'x24' i think. i boarded up part of my barn for them.

I feed them layer pellets and table scraps

The heat lamps when in near the end of december.

Back in November i lost two of the red circled ones but they where much larger ones. rosters i would say.

this morning i lost another died (circled yellow)

They one circled in green i lost during the cold snap.



this is one half of there coop, they do not have a run at this time.

 

[bobbi-j]

I'm still thinking it's something other than the cold you had that's going on. Your coop, to me, seems a little tight. Is it well ventilated? How old are your birds?

 

[WoodCarver]

yea i think so but not sure. you did notice the image of the coop area was only half right?