Do chickens lay in Winter?

[GrayChickens]

Most say chickens don't lay in winter. I know a few whose pullets have come into lay during winter and are laying still. My Orpingtons show all the signs of being able and ready to lay eggs. It is winter here . What's up?

 

[so lucky]

Unless the chickens are a year or younger, most will slow down or quit laying during the "Persephone Days", when there is the least amount of daylight, about three months. I think it is said that chickens need at least 12 hours of daylight, preferably 14, to continue laying. Pullets in their first year of laying may not slow down on production.
This year I am trying a light in my coop for the first time, having it on for 13 hours. I think it is helping, but the girls are not a year old yet, so I can't say for sure.
It doesn't have anything to do with temperature, just hours of daylight. Hopefully, your chickens and mine will keep up the good work.

 

[DobieLover]

Most say chickens don't lay in winter. I know a few whose pullets have come into lay during winter and are laying still. My Orpingtons show all the signs of being able and ready to lay eggs. It is winter here . What's up?

Chickens do lay through the winter. Just not as frequently. I've got more 20 month old hens laying than I do 8 month old pullets and the pullets outnumber the hen by more than 2 to 1.

 

[GC-Raptor]

My Barred Rocks were bought as day old chicks August 15, 2018 and started to lay first week of January, all were laying by third week.
This winter season only 2/5 are laying. 2 are molting, 1 recently finished, don't expect an egg for another 3 weeks from her.
My Golden Comets laid through first and second winter. Early spring chicks 2016. One is retired the other stopped laying middle of November and is in molt.
I add light at 5am year round. None after sunset except a nightlight so they can get on roosts. Nightlight is turned off 20/30 minutes after sunset, currently 4:24 here.
My egg production from the Barred Rocks started to slow when sunset was around 5:30.
So to keep up egg production in my experience, 13/14 hours of light should do it.
Your results will vary depending on age, what and how much you feed and how often you treat. GC

 

[sdm111]

With gamefowl I dont get eggs from about end of August to mid February. They quit when they start melting and go into winter with less light

 

[808momof4]

Our 8 pullets will be 1 in February. All but 1 has stopped laying completely. 4 are molting. We live in Hawaii, so I really didn't expect them to stop. But man, we had a few months of amazing laying and then NOTHING. I actually had to buy eggs for the Christmas baking this week. Broke my heart.

P.S. Their coop faces East so they have ALL the morning sunlight and then we release them for free range in the afternoon.

 

[CindyinSD]

It depends on a number of things. Some of them:

1. First, length of daylight. As days shorten, hen hormones tend to let up the stimuli for egg production. As the days lengthen, hormones begin to stimulate egg production again. It’s a gradual process though, so expect a week or two’s delay if you add light to your coop. I’ve read that the morning light is more important than evening, but in my experience either works. That may depend on your chickens, though.
2. Second, some hens are less affected by short days and will lay through the winter. I’ve noticed in the hatchery sites info that such hens also tend to lay less frequently and produce smaller eggs, but I haven’t been taking notes and I may be mistaken about that.
3. Finally, it may depend on various other factors including the age of the chicken, molting, stress (possibly caused by confinement by inclement weather, resultant over-crowding, change, etc.)

 

[Tillie43]

Our 8 pullets will be 1 in February. All but 1 has stopped laying completely. 4 are molting. We live in Hawaii, so I really didn't expect them to stop. But man, we had a few months of amazing laying and then NOTHING. I actually had to buy eggs for the Christmas baking this week. Broke my heart.

P.S. Their coop faces East so they have ALL the morning sunlight and then we release them for free range in the afternoon.

my six pullets are the same age and between lack of sunlight and four in various stages of molt I get 3 to 4 eggs a week.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Quite often birds are in Molt in the fall but also lack of light will cause a bird to lay less or stop

 

[Chickncrzylady]

I live in PA. I have a flock of 18- 20 month old Buff Orps, Brahmas, Easter Eggers, and Cochins . They molted Sept to Oct. I got no eggs some days and 2-3 other days . The past 2 weeks I started getting 5-7 eggs a day so things are picking up.
It's been cold as 12 degrees here and now in the 40s. My 19 week olds have started with a few eggs this past week. There are 16 of them. They are Barred Rocks, Rhode Island whites, Ameraucanas and Easter eggers. I have 4 Spitzhauben too . I expect they will start laying more in the next month or so. I usually get some eggs all winter but it's definitely less. I am surprised my younger pullets have started to lay already. I wasn't expecting any eggs from them until around February.
I don't use any lighting . Your Pullets should start laying soon.