had to break down

[Alleyoops25]

chickens that are a year old usually dont lay at all during the winter. Pullets will lay, but not regularly. The best way to keep them laying is to have a light bulb running at least a couple hours after dark. I have also been feeding them after dark inside the coop. That way they get up and be more active. I have 20 pullets and I get 18 to 20 eggs a day.

 

[newchickowner]

ok, here's a question for the experienced chicheners, can the chickens actually control their own egg production??? or is it really a nature controlled thing when the weather turns cold they naturally slow or stop production?

I just sort of figured it's a regular cycle of reproduction that was always going until they're old and they go through a chicken menopause or something.

 

[earthnut]

I haven't gotten any eggs since Late October. And I've been giving them light.

 

[earthnut]

From my understanding, it's mostly controlled by daylength. under 14 hours of light and they stop laying. Also stressors can do it. If they're molting they stop laying. If they're scared they stop laying. If they are shipped accross the country they stop laying.

But also different breeds will tend to lay more and longer than others.

I wouldn't say they decide anything, from my understanding.

Chickens don't have menopause. They are most prolific in their first year but they have the potenial to keep laying until they die.

 

[ole-crone]

We were hardly getting any eggs. Adding light didn't help but adding an evening feeding of grain seems to have.

We did have some chickens that never stopped. We call them our broodie hens because we use them to hatch eggs and after the eggs are hatched, if the eggs belonged to a friend - she takes one home with the baby chicks until the chicks are ready to go on their own.

I know that these hens are 1/2 silkie (that's what their mother was). Their father is a HUGE rooster named one eye. We never intended to have chickens again but inherited a few from a divorcing neighbor. One was a silkie that we named Biddy. She would set on a rock if that was all she had. We took pity on her and a friend gave us some of her eggs to give Biddy a shock. Only one hatched. When the little guy was about a month or two old, the RIRs attacked him one night and pecked out his right eye. Once grown, he took revenge (but that's another tale). Anyway, One Eye grew up to be a dashing roo - and as I said, HUGE. The toes on his feet are as big around as the fingers on my hand (and I'm far from being a dainty female).

Our friend told us that she got her chickens from a friend who had bred and cross bred hers for size and cold hardiness. So, I have no idea what he was. I've noticed some slight feathering on his feet so perhaps some brahma. His short legs makes me wonder if they also bred a meat bird into the gene pool. Anyway, as huge and he is and as small as Biddy is, they had babies - the broodie hens. Their eggs are larger than a Silkie's but probably still considered small.

All of our other chickens stopped laying by early November. Poor ol' One Eye is no longer king of the chicken yard now that he's getting older. We have an EE roo that bloodies him regularly so we keep him separate from the other chickens.
This spring, I'm going to put him in a pen with Biddie's girls and see what we get. I'm hoping to end up with a hen that lays larger eggs when the others aren't BUT doesn't have a comb. One Eye has a huge comb that has been frostbitten over the years and is smaller than it originally was. Biddie's girls has a silkie head of fluff.