How do you keep your hens laying year round?

[Naz223]

I'm new to raising chickens. My hens are almost 6 months and they just started laying. And they are doing a fantastic job! So proud of my ladies! Please share some of your secrets to keeping your girls laying year round and for years to come!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

You can't really make a chicken lay year round, hens stop and start laying for many reasons, a lot of them we can't control like weather. And you can't make them lay through a seasonal molt which your chickens will do next fall.

Best thing you can do to optimize laying is to provide good quality rations, keep stress down, provide protection from weather and predators, don't crowd them, and try to keep them healthy and happy.

 

[nchls school]

I have a heated coop so my hens lay year around. I also have shop light on a timer so the coop is summer all year too. My hens go broody often and that's OK with me. Going broody means a rest from egg laying and as a result I have a few older hens (one is 8 years old) that still lay eggs. It's just the wife and I and if we get an egg or two a day that is plenty. For he most part our birds are pets.

 

[keesmom]

You can't really make a chicken lay year round, hens stop and start laying for many reasons, a lot of them we can't control like weather. And you can't make them lay through a seasonal molt which your chickens will do next fall.

X 2. Weather can slow egg production, hot weather in particular. All hens molt around 18 months of age and when they molt they stop laying. As they age egg production will drop. There is no way to avoid that issue.

 

[donrae]

I have a heated coop so my hens lay year around. I also have shop light on a timer so the coop is summer all year too. My hens go broody often and that's OK with me. Going broody means a rest from egg laying and as a result I have a few older hens (one is 8 years old) that still lay eggs. It's just the wife and I and if we get an egg or two a day that is plenty. For he most part our birds are pets.

Just to clarify, it's not the heat that keeps them laying, it's the light. Animals cycle on length of daylight, not temperature.

Hens taking a break in the winter is a great reason to get a few new chicks each spring

. Those chicks will start laying right as the older ladies begin molting. Works out great.

 

[nchls school]

Just to clarify, it's not the heat that keeps them laying, it's the light. Animals cycle on length of daylight, not temperature. True. But in Wisconsin we have temps well below zero often getting lower than a minus 20. Without heat I doubt my hens would lay, or even survive.

Hens taking a break in the winter is a great reason to get a few new chicks each spring . Those chicks will start laying right as the older ladies begin molting. Works out great. And that is what I have done; my hens do not molt at the same time so a few are laying at all times.
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[MeepBeep]

Just to clarify, it's not the heat that keeps them laying, it's the light. Animals cycle on length of daylight, not temperature.

Many breeds will slow or produce no eggs during periods of extreme heat or below freezing temps, this is why most commercial egg producers have both heat and AC in their hen buildings...

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I am in Wisconsin as well my young hens will lay all winter without heat or light, I like to get my replacements in June so most are laying by December. And my poultry do just fine even my frizzle bantam cochins.

 

[nchls school]

Not all breeds are cold-hardy.

 

[Naz223]

All great input! Thank you! We are going to put a light out in the chicken coop for the winter, where I live, it only gets down in the 20's and on rare occasion, the teens. But we are suppose to have an extremely wet winter here.