half my gals have stopped laying eggs......normal for winter months?

[eggxentric]

I have 1 Rhode Island Red (who keeps laying every day or there abouts). 1 Ameracaunas (only one of which is laying..about every other day), and a plymouth barred rock (who stopped laying in late October). I live in Central California and thought maybe the shorter daylight hours are affecting the girls, but....not really sure. Should I be concerned?
Thanks,
c.

 

[artsyrobin]

unless you give them extra light, they will slow down or stop- some people put a light on in the coop so they will get 14 hours of light, i rather give them the break they need, than force laying-

 

[chookchick]

Yep, just read the posts over the last couple of months, every other one is whining about not getting any/few eggs!

 

[gitanesteel]

I use a light with a timer and the egg production has stayed steady with 7-9 a day for 10 hens. The number will fall to 6 when it gets real cold or there's snow on the ground and they don't want to go out.

 

[feathersnuggles]

It's interesting, because I've noticed the egg production has slowed even more since the solstice has passed.

We don't have light/heat in the coop this winter. Still, throughout the longest darkest days of December, our laying girls were each producing about 2 eggs/every 3 days. Recently, all, except one (the Black Australorp, bless her heart!), have dropped down to 1 egg/every 3 days. Weird, to me! Once the daylight began lengthening, they lay even less? I guess I thought we'd be turning the corner the other way.

I'm just curious if anyone has seen the same thing?