Daylight hours

[Vince]

If your girls are not getting the recomended amout of daylight hours, will they still lay as expected. With the days getting shorter I was wondering if this will prevent them from laying.

I haven't gotten an egg yet from the 8 ladies I have. Thought this may be a reason since they are a little over 4 months old.

 

[Ridgerunner]

At 4 months, say 18 weeks, it is still a little early for them to be laying. Out of 23 pullets, I got my first egg at 18 weeks. All the others were at least couple of weeks later.

With yours coming to point of lay while the days are getting shorter, you might get some eggs during the winter, but most breeds do slow down during the winter months and really take off when the days get longer.

 

[Uppity Peon]

As ridgerunner says, your girls are a little young yet.

Regarding daylight hours, some breeds are better able to lay eggs through the winter months. Look for the snowflake (

) on Henderson's chart.

http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chooks.html