Is it healthier to let them stop laying during the winter?

[aoxa]

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Right now we are at 10 hours of sunlight. Still almost 2 months before we hit the shortest day of the year!

 

[krcote]

I can give you some info based on my personal experiences. I have had chickens for probably 4 years now. In the previous winters I had provided light to keep them laying and they did that very well. Last winter, they became bored and needed something to do in all of the hours it was light. They chose feather picking. I did not have that problem in the previous winters, but that was with a different flock of birds entirely. I have one bird who still hasn't completely grown her saddle feathers back and we are headed into winter again. I've decided to try going without the additional light this year to see if it staves off the picking. I am already experiencing a very low egg production, but it seems worth it if they don't feather pick. Hopefully come spring my gals will look like normal chickens and less like birds that are half plucked for the pot!

 

[weeders n feeders]

I'm on the no light side. My current 5 just started laying towards the end of the summer and one has definately slowed but maybe she just never got up to steady speed. The others are still pretty much every day with only an occasional day off. I do sell my eggs which provides the funds for food for both the layers and the 20 meaties I have going right now. All my egg customers know that winter will probably slow them down and appreciate the fact that I will not provide light just to get them to lay more. Everyone buys my eggs because they believe they are healthier than store eggs and more in line with the way nature intended. Therefore nature is turning down the light and the temp so my chickens are dealing with it the best way they can which is not laying as much and fluffing up these down feathers. There are also less bugs and greens and seeds during the winter so they are going to have to work a bit harder during ranging hours to be satisfied. I feel it's more than just light that slows them down. I will give them more mealworms in the winter and they'll get winter greens and I usually give more scratch in the winter since they cannot find as much foraging on their own. These things alone,with past hens, has usually helped to keep them laying enough so that I have some eggs during winter.

 

[Fred's Hens]

If the space allows for a larger flock, one could always keep 1/3 of the flock first year pullets. First year layers generally are not as sensitive to decreasing light conditions. This helps to insure that at least some portion of the flock is going to lay. Some breeds seem to produce better in darker conditions as well.

 

[JodyJo]

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I have 11 laying hens, and so far am still getting 8-9 eggs a day...that is plenty, I am NOT adding light...they need a break...its your choice though....

 

[Ridgerunner]

Quote:
Why do you seem to say chickens don't molt if you provide light? I have had chickens for 19 years, provided 14 hours of light every winter & always had chickens molt in mid fall like they are supposed to based on their hatch date. Providing light does not keep them from molting & resting.

The 14 hours is not a magic number for all of us. It is what commercial operations use because they have found that it gives them the most efficent operation considering molting, egg laying, feed to egg conversion, and health. It is a reduction in light that causes the molt. At your specific latitude, you get about 15 hours of light a day on your longest day. Your providing them 14 hours of light still gives them a reduction of about one hour in daylight, which is obviously enough to cause a molt.

Chickens closer to the equator never see 14 hours of daylight, yet they lay well and go through a molt in their fall. A lot of people get hung up on magic numbers on this forum, whether it is rooster to hen ratio, space in a coop and run, or age you can take heat away from chicks. The numbers are not magic, just general guidelines that usually work for most of us.

I'm not a chicken professional. My degree is not in Poultry Science. I do try to read some studies by the professionals, many of which are geared toward the comercial operations so you have to be careful how to interpret them. And I try to pay attention to the circumstances people are in when I read what they post on this forum. We all have different circumstances. I try to use logic as to why we get such different circumstances. I could easily be wrong.

 

[featherz]

I am lighting my pullet coop but I am letting the coop with the older girls have a break this year.

Hopefully that will give me enough eggs through the winter!

 

[johnsons-r-us]

Quote:
Why do you seem to say chickens don't molt if you provide light? I have had chickens for 19 years, provided 14 hours of light every winter & always had chickens molt in mid fall like they are supposed to based on their hatch date. Providing light does not keep them from molting & resting.

The 14 hours is not a magic number for all of us. It is what commercial operations use because they have found that it gives them the most efficent operation considering molting, egg laying, feed to egg conversion, and health. It is a reduction in light that causes the molt. At your specific latitude, you get about 15 hours of light a day on your longest day. Your providing them 14 hours of light still gives them a reduction of about one hour in daylight, which is obviously enough to cause a molt.

Chickens closer to the equator never see 14 hours of daylight, yet they lay well and go through a molt in their fall. A lot of people get hung up on magic numbers on this forum, whether it is rooster to hen ratio, space in a coop and run, or age you can take heat away from chicks. The numbers are not magic, just general guidelines that usually work for most of us.

I'm not a chicken professional. My degree is not in Poultry Science. I do try to read some studies by the professionals, many of which are geared toward the comercial operations so you have to be careful how to interpret them. And I try to pay attention to the circumstances people are in when I read what they post on this forum. We all have different circumstances. I try to use logic as to why we get such different circumstances. I could easily be wrong.

Interesting.....I just started last Easter with my little flock. Is it the general opinion then that whether I add light or not add light this first year that I should get the same amount of eggs?

I love this forum! We newbies do like numbers

....and it's good to keep in mind all of us have different "real" life experiences with our chickens. Since I for one only have a few months experience, any information beats that!

I learn something new nearly every time I read through a thread.

 

[Judy]

Interesting.....I just started last Easter with my little flock. Is it the general opinion then that whether I add light or not add light this first year that I should get the same amount of eggs?

I don't know about "the same number," but you should get eggs this winter either way, yes. Mine that lay all winter, I believe, lay fewer in the winter than in the prime laying season in spring and early summer. But then I don' have a tremendous amount of experience, either, just a backyard flock for a few years.​

 

[pips&peeps]

I have light on my birds 365. They will do what they are going to do either way. If they are going to molt, they will.