Dominique Thread!

[vpatt]

Articles that I read say Doms are steady layers thru the winter. Is this not true? I had two Doms laying, one went broody and one had a very light molt, they both stopped laying. The articles never seem to mention those issues. I guess you learn from experience. I don't know if heat would help as I'm told it is more an issue of light. I don't want to add light so I guess I will just make do with fewer eggs, lol.

 

[lazy gardener]

I am a bit confused as to Dominiques laying during winter months. We're zone 3, and winter is forever, here. Heating their water is one thing, heating an entire coop for that many months would be pretty much out of the question. I could bring in a couple of eggers into a room off my garage that will have floor heat...

Articles that I read say Doms are steady layers thru the winter. Is this not true? I had two Doms laying, one went broody and one had a very light molt, they both stopped laying. The articles never seem to mention those issues. I guess you learn from experience. I don't know if heat would help as I'm told it is more an issue of light. I don't want to add light so I guess I will just make do with fewer eggs, lol.

The issue is lack of light, not so much lack of heat. My flock cut way back on laying. I was getting 1 - 3 eggs/day from 15 gals. The recommendation is to start extra light soon enough to keep them at 14 hours of light/day. (i.e. when the day length drops below 14 hours, start the light to keep them at 14 hours.) I started late, and my flock has just started giving me 8 - 10 eggs/day. The 3 doms are now laying at almost 100%.

 

[Alaskan]

I second @lazy gardener 's comments.

They do not need extra heat.

However, a dramatic drop in light will reduce egg laying.

How you want to handle the reduction in production due to light... depends on your attitude towards your chickens, and how much you need the eggs.

Electric is expensive up here, but it doesn't cost that much to run a light bulb, and I sell my eggs...... so this year I have light.

 

[Zone3Dakota]

I think that we can handle lights, along with heated water. It won't take long for the eggs to freeze, tho.

At first I was thinking about making nest boxes that have some sort of safe heat source under, maybe one of those oil filled electric heaters. I could also keep the watering area(s) under the boxes.

But if they lay nearly daily, it would be better for me just to keep a couple of hens in the heated room off the garage. There's just the two of us, and we only consume a couple of eggs a day. I could keep my 'summer hens' out in the coop with natural daylight, and let them rest for the dark days of winter.

I can always save back some frozen egg dishes from the 'summer layers' to get me through the winter, if I need more than what a couple of 'winter layers' can produce.

We'll see how it goes.

Thanks peoples!

 

[lazy gardener]

A thought for the future: a lot of people freeze their surplus summer eggs. You need to prepare them. There are instructions available on how much salt to add for main dish cooking eggs, and how much sugar to add for dessert dish cooking eggs. I would think it would be easier to add light for the whole flock than to maintain feed and water for birds kept in 2 places.

 

[Zone3Dakota]

The room off the garage is being built so that I can breed early racing pigeons, so I already will have at least two places to do chores. The outdoor chickens will make a third place for me to tend.

The 'outdoor' flock would be very difficult to gather unfrozen eggs in the winter, here. Very expensive to heat much area, since the winter is so long...and below zero for so much of the winter. The weather is colder here, than much of coastal Alaska. Toss hot coffee into the air, and it is snow before it hits the ground. I expect that an unhenned egg would be frozen in just a couple of minutes. Now, if I could train my hens to all lay at the same exact time.....or all stay on the egg...

Yes, I do need to check out techniques for freezing eggs. We like quiche, so I had planned to freeze up some of that.

Thanks!

 

[lazy gardener]

Sounds like you're going to be busy. Have fun! I hope you like iced coffee!!! I love my Dom's personalities!!!

 

[JediJinx]

This week I started leaving the light on until about 9 pm-ish and I got one Dom egg two days ago. A second buck-horn is about to start laying, she is singing the egg song and burrowing.

We don't eat a lot of eggs here (I am the only one who eats them), however I do bake with them, and they work so much better than store bought in the baking. As I expand my flock, I hope to be able to supply some neighbors with our eggs too. I have some Welsummers on order for early spring to add some color. I think they will make good companions to the doms.

 

[Delight in Dominiques]

...

This week I started leaving the light on until about 9 pm-ish and I got one Dom egg two days ago. A second buck-horn is about to start laying, she is singing the egg song and burrowing.

We don't eat a lot of eggs here (I am the only one who eats them), however I do bake with them, and they work so much better than store bought in the baking. As I expand my flock, I hope to be able to supply some neighbors with our eggs too. I have some Welsummers on order for early spring to add some color. I think they will make good companions to the doms.
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When using artificial lights , I have always been taught to add light in the morning hours and have the lights turn off during the day, this allows for increased daylight and allows the birds to go through their normal routine before going onto roost as dusk slowly approaches. And it is more beneficial to increase time of light slowly over a period of time. This being said it is never natural for a hen to lay heavy year round, and creates for a unhealthy environment in the long run if forced to lay without rest.

 

[lazy gardener]

Yes, we've all been told and "taught" that the way to do it is to have the light come on before sun-up (to give them their 14 hours) so that they don't get caught off the perch when the lights suddenly go out if the light is supplemented at the end of the day. Being one to take the "because that's the way it's supposed to be done" statements with a huge grain of salt, and choosing to do what seems to make the most sense to me, I opted to supplement light at the END of the day. I'm not too excited about hearing my rooster greet the day at 2AM. I've gone out often to check my girls in the evening, and they are ALWAYS on the perch, long before the lights go out. Also, BeeKissed raised an interesting little tidbit of info: Peak melantonin production hours are between the hours of 2 and 4 AM. If I understand her correctly, melantonin production is disrupted if it is not dark. I don't know how melantonin fits into the grand scheme of things, but assume it's a good thing if my girls are in the dark at that time!