Drop in egg production

[The Sparks Coop]

I know this has probably been answered before....here goes-

I live in Reno, NV. We had a very warm fall, first freeze just a couple of weeks ago. In the past month my girls have dropped off from like 8 eggs a day to 3 or 4. I assume this is normal due to reduction in light hours and drop in temp. If I install a heat lamp that comes on for a few hours at night, could that boost it back up? My chickens are young, oldest are just 15 months old.

Any tips or info would be useful. Thank you!!

 

[Kittymomma]

A light will probably help, though as I understand it most that use lights in the winter start them earlier in the year before production actually drops off. It wouldn't hurt to try though, but it doesn't need to be a heat lamp since it's not the temp. but the shorter daylight hours that affect them. Your oldest hens might also be getting ready to molt and lights won't help that.

 

[can you hear me now?]

Should still work if you put one in on a timer. I did that a few years ago and was manually turning the light off and on, didn't fool them. When I put the timer on it they went back to normal. One thing I feel I need to add is get it on in the morning as well as the night. Helps without keeping them up too late. You will know if they are molting because you will see tons of feathers compared to normal.

 

[The Sparks Coop]

Yes at least one is molting. Why the heck would they molt right at the beginning of winter? Seems like a spring or summer thing? How often will they molt?