Is this what winter production looks like?

[member 373180]

I'm heading into my first chicken winter and wonder if my experience is normal. I was regularly getting about 8 eggs a day from my little flock of bantams. Last weekend we had our first couple cold nights - nearly freezing. I was out of town but the number of eggs indicate they were producing as normal all week (bad timing I was away but had a sitter). It got warm again after those two nights. Thursday I got 7 eggs, Friday one and Saturday none.
I was expecting things to slow for winter but this seems like a pretty extreme switch. Is it normal? Any other ideas? They seem fine.......
Thanks!

 

[sourland]

Production, especially with bantams, may taper off with shortening day length, but it is generally a gradual thing. Any possibility that they might have been feed or water deprived while you were away?

 

[member 373180]

Yeah, I was expecting a tapering-off style slowage, too. I'm pretty confident in my sitter but it's a possibility, I guess. I hate leaving!.
Would that do it, do you think? How long would they have to be without to end up skipping a couple days?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

My Bantam lay for a bit then go broody, it's a regular cycle, have yours been acting broody.

 

[member 373180]

My Bantam lay for a bit then go broody, it's a regular cycle, have yours been acting broody.

Several have gone in and out of broody cycles over the last couple of months but nobody's at it right now. They're pretty persistent about it, aren't they?

Could it be that they got too many treats while I was gone? I think they may have gotten a lot of mealworms, maybe scratch and greens?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I think it's just the inconsistency of bantam hens, they aren't really regular layers unless they are planning a clutch. Weather changes can mess with them a bit, and perhaps they actually missed you, their dominant member, and that threw them off, I would expect them to pick up again. Mine get a varied diet too, that shouldn't cause troubles unless it was for a long time.

 

[member 373180]

Awww. That's sweet, I like to think they missed me. They didn't squeak when I got home like the dogs did but maybe they're just a little more stoic . Thanks, all, I'll try to not worry and see what happens over the next couple days.

 

[Diney]

My flock had slowed down in the last week. I was getting 7 or 8 a day and the last week has gone anywhere from 4 to 6 depending on the day. I am in Washington and it hasn't really got cold here yet. Today I got one that was really small like when they first started laying. We have been having problems with coyotes and was wondering if that could have anything to do with it. Coyotes howling a lot and close to where coop is. Of course also getting dark a lot earlier now.

 

[member 373180]

Thanks all for the wisdom. Just thought I'd let you know that it took them another 10 days but egg production came back up. Of course, I did the very unscientific thing and mixed a higher protein feed in with the usual so now I don't know if that did it or if they decided to forgive me for going away.
Anyway, we are back up to 8-9 eggs per day.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Great to hear it, eggs take a lot of protein to produce so perhaps that's what it was.