Heat Necessary for Egg Laying?

[lazy gardener]

Heat is not associated with laying cycles. LIGHT is what drives laying cycles. The choice to add light, or not to add light is an individual choice. The individual flock owner should do his/her own homework, read some studies associated with supplemental light, and make his/her own decisions. Don't let someone else's choice influence your choice. I have provided light 3 of 4 past years. This year, my flock is 90% pullets, so am leaning at this time to not using light. They are now laying more eggs than I can use (or sell).

 

[lazy gardener]

Thanks! We get rain often, but it might snow (more like sleet) once every 10 years or so here. haha The only worry I had about closing off that end is that it will probably block out the sunlight, but I guess if I just block off the top part at least some light should still be able to come through.

Why not block it off with plastic???

 

[Ridgerunner]

My family is new to raising chickens and have 2 that are about 17 weeks old. One is a Rhode Island Red Bantam and the other is a Buff Orphington. Neither has begun to lay yet. We live in New Orleans where the fall and winter temperatures are rarely very cold. However, while I was purchasing feed yesterday the owner of the store suggested that I put a heat source when the temperatures outside begin dropping. He said all of his customers that do that claim their hens continue to lay throughout winter. I have read conflicting things about this and am wondering if the heat is necessary? Is there anything different I should do with the coop or provide for them when temps begin to drop. Right now the temps are in the high 50's - low 70's. However, our temps here fluctuate greatly from day to day.

Mallory, I do not provide heat and I get eggs all winter. Older hens stop laying when the days get shorter and molt. Their feathers wear out and they need to replace them. When the days get shorter the food to raise chicks is harder to come by so they stop laying and use the nutrients that were going into egg production to grow new feathers. It's a natural cycle.

But you don't have old hens, you have pullets. It doesn't happen all the time but it is pretty normal for a pullet to skip the molt her first year and continue laying all winter. She won't molt until the following fall/winter. So it is quite possible his customers that add heat see egg production continue, but that's not because of the heat. It's because of they have pullets.

Also a lot of production breed hens that do molt start laying after the molt is finished, even if it is still the middle of winter. Some hens wait until the days get longer to start laying after a mot. They all work to their own schedule.

In spite of my jibe at Chickassan above, I'd block off the end of that so a strong breeze doesn't blow through when they are on the roost, but leaving an opening above the roosts will allow any breezes to pass over their heads. On those occasions when it does get below freezing it's best to not have a strong wind hit them directly.

 

[getaclue]

Give them a little more time.

 

[Mallory835]

Dry is far more important than warm as your breeds are cold hardy till temps well below 0 degrees Fahrenheit. Be sure your coop is well ventilated and draft free.

Birds stop laying naturally when light hours diminish (and colder temperatures) due to higher survival hatching rates. That said,

This topic comes up often, my reply to a previous query, hope it helps:

There are a lot of opinions on supplementing light to keep the chickens laying during time periods where there is less than 12-14 hours of available daylight.

My coop gets 16 hours of light 365 days per year. Birds continue to molt regardless, as they do if living on or close to the equator, where the light hours are consistent all year.

Having had to install electricity for the thermostatically controlled water heater, I took advantage and installed a lighting system.

My system has two timers. The first is set to turn the lights on at 5am, off at 9pm.

Power goes on, passes through a photocell, then to a 300 lumen LED bulb, 4.8 watts, in the coop, and two 4.8 watt LEDs for the outside run.
All bulbs are warm white - 3000K

I light the run because I found the birds huddled outside the coop door in the dark one 5:30am morning... They have access to the run 24/7, as it is as secure as the coop.

The lights are on only when it is dark enough outside to be necessary (photocell).
The time on very closely mimics my Summer Solstice.

The second timer is set to go on at 8:30pm, off at 9:30pm, a diffused 200 lumen LED 4 watt bulb. This dim light allows the birds to settle in before all lights out. No stress as immediate darkness may induce.

This system costs less than $5 per year to operate. My egg production does not fluctuate due to seasonal lighting deficiencies.

Hope this helps.

Thanks, I love this idea!

 

[LindaK11]

My family is new to raising chickens and have 2 that are about 17 weeks old. One is a Rhode Island Red Bantam and the other is a Buff Orphington. Neither has begun to lay yet. We live in New Orleans where the fall and winter temperatures are rarely very cold. However, while I was purchasing feed yesterday the owner of the store suggested that I put a heat source when the temperatures outside begin dropping. He said all of his customers that do that claim their hens continue to lay throughout winter. I have read conflicting things about this and am wondering if the heat is necessary? Is there anything different I should do with the coop or provide for them when temps begin to drop. Right now the temps are in the high 50's - low 70's. However, our temps here fluctuate greatly from day to day.

So in my experience my chickens started laying around 5 or 6 months old I believe and they were steady laying daily. Once full blown winter came they stopped and I was told to add a heat light to the coop and when I did this they went back to laying regularly..However I've been told conflicting stories on whether heat is needed or not but the Michigan winter's can be extremely cold here so I don't know if that's why or not but know it works to add the heat..Guess it would really be just what you want try and see works.

 

[Mallory835]

Mallory, I do not provide heat and I get eggs all winter. Older hens stop laying when the days get shorter and molt. Their feathers wear out and they need to replace them. When the days get shorter the food to raise chicks is harder to come by so they stop laying and use the nutrients that were going into egg production to grow new feathers. It's a natural cycle.

But you don't have old hens, you have pullets. It doesn't happen all the time but it is pretty normal for a pullet to skip the molt her first year and continue laying all winter. She won't molt until the following fall/winter. So it is quite possible his customers that add heat see egg production continue, but that's not because of the heat. It's because of they have pullets.

Also a lot of production breed hens that do molt start laying after the molt is finished, even if it is still the middle of winter. Some hens wait until the days get longer to start laying after a mot. They all work to their own schedule.

In spite of my jibe at Chickassan above, I'd block off the end of that so a strong breeze doesn't blow through when they are on the roost, but leaving an opening above the roosts will allow any breezes to pass over their heads. On those occasions when it does get below freezing it's best to not have a strong wind hit them directly.

Thank you, and the pet store owner didn't mention if the other customers had older hens or pullets. I didn't think to ask, but you are probably right. He said he was just going by what they all told him, and said to go research about adding heat. I'll get my husband to block off that end though like you all suggested!

 

[Mallory835]

Why not block it off with plastic???

Good idea!

 

[getaclue]

I use plastic to block off wind, and rain, leaving a space at the top for ventilation to prevent frostbite. No you don't need heat. I suspect your gals are not laying yet due to age.

 

[jay873]

So if your hens are just starting to mature and haven't layed yet they would wait till next spring when it's warm again?

I also have hens that should begin laying within a month and its getting cool so i should just expect them to wait till next year to lay ?

I have 6 week old chicks right now barred rock isa brown silver laced Wyandotte and a few crosses .so your saying they wouldn't lay in February like they should? they would just wait till March/april when it gets warm