hens are 6 mothes old and not laying

[WalkingOnSunshine]

But I think I will put a heater In there cause I want them to lay eggs when there is no sun

A heater is different than supplementary lighting. Go ahead and put a light bulb in the coop--if you set it on a timer, you can have it come on very early in the morning to make sure that they get at least 14 hours of light per day. It's best to use supplementary lighting in the morning rather than at night because when the lights go off abruptly at night many hens haven't had a chance to get to their perches, etc.

But a heater is there to make the hen house warm, not to light it, and a heater will not get you more eggs. A heater might get you sick birds, though.

 

[AKchicken1]

Popular consensus among many Fairbanks chicken farmers is that providing heat, in our extremes anyway, does make a difference in egg production. Many indicate that after a cold stretch there is a delayed but very noticable drop in egg production. Again, probably just because our cold stretches are circa 30 to 50 below. It would seem to follow that if you maintain your coop dry and somewhere around 20 above as opposed to 0 degrees the hens will need less energy to keep warm and be able to convert more feed to growth and egg production.

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

Popular consensus among many Fairbanks chicken farmers is that providing heat, in our extremes anyway, does make a difference in egg production. Many indicate that after a cold stretch there is a delayed but very noticable drop in egg production. Again, probably just because our cold stretches are circa 30 to 50 below. It would seem to follow that if you maintain your coop dry and somewhere around 20 above as opposed to 0 degrees the hens will need less energy to keep warm and be able to convert more feed to growth and egg production.

Fairbanks! Yes, I would bet you'd want some heat in Fairbanks! Don't your eggs freeze solid before you can get to them at 50 below?

But the OP wanted to heat her coop because it was slightly below freezing (32 degrees F). In the midwest, it rarely gets below 0 degrees F. -10 is about as cold as we ever get here in Ohio, but I do remember one winter when it was -65 when you factored in the windchill.

 

[lovnmynightmare]

I had a similar question about my 22 week old chickens. I know the 3 EE will not be laying yet. I also have 4 black sex links and 6 plymoth rocks that are not laying. They have been free range for the past 2 months. I have locked them up in our barn for now. They squat when you pet them, have big red crops and they have laying boxes, but no eggs. I have set the lights to give them 15 hours of light, but still nothing. Any other suggestions.. or just be patient... I'm like a child with no concept of time waiting for Christmas.. is it time yet? When will it be time??

 

[bobelot]

Yea one of mine squats wgen u pet it then the next one raises its wings a little and squats and the other just runs away when u try to pet it

 

[AKchicken1]

Walkng on Sunshine.........Yes, they will freeze. Our hens usuallly all lay within a few hour period between 1000 hours and 1300 hours, with the occassional egg sometime before 1700 hours. My wife and 4 year old just make more trips to the hen house during the busy period and I do a last check when I get home. Keeping a very rigid schedule for when we turn the white light on seems to help keep them laying at a predictable time of the day. Our house is well insulated and we have it outfitted with 4 heat lamps, but really only use 1 to two at a time, I can keep it at about 12F pretty easily, with an outside temp of 30 below using 1 red heat lamp at night. The hen house is a new set up for us this year but, so far, with the ventilation and refelective foam panels on the ceiling and upper portions of the walls it seems to stay relatively warm and nice and dry, We are supposed to see 35 maybe 40 below this weekend, so we'll see if we freeze any! Even after freezing, as long as they don't break, the eggs are still fine to eat, they just look a little weird.

 

[bobelot]

okay i have some pics of the chicken so maybe u can maybe see why they are not laying




these two are not laying skinny one is fang and other big one is lizzy



this is lizzy close up her comb is alot smaller then the other two but she is really big





this is bobelot and she is laying really good




this is fang WHY IS SHE SO SKINNY??

 

[Choco Maran]

looking at where they are I would guess they are laying somewhere out in the yard. check under and around everything to make sure.

 

[chickened]

check thier pelvic bone if they are two fingers wide they are laying.

 

[bobelot]

Not exactly sure where that is on a chicken heheheh （≧∇≦）