Laying

[vonniefisher]

I am still fairly new to chickens (less than a year) and I have a question. I have 4 barred rocks that hatched mid July, but I have only had them for about a month; this means they would start laying about January - give or take. However, I live in Kansas and it is quite cold and we only have about 10 hours of daylight in January - will they just hold off until the time changes in March to start laying? I also have an EE and a RIR that have really dropped off in their egg laying - which I understand is normal for the winter months.

 

[fire370]

No, they will lay when they are ready. Yes it's normal for production to taper off. Not driven by cold but rather daylight hours. Where in Kansas are you?

 

[Bridebeliever]

Yes, it's very normal for winter months for them to slow down quite a bit. The daylight rather sets off a hormonal shift. It's said that they need 14 hours of light to lay. Yours may or may not begin to lay in January. We are down to 9 hours of daylight per day and my Chocolate Orpington just started to lay 4 weeks ago. She has given me an egg everyday regardless of the reduced light.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

6 months as in 26 weeks is a good estimate. If they were point of lay early fall they likely would lay around 24 weeks but with the lack of daylight it will be delayed a bit. Mine are/have been point of lay for some time. About ready to start picking them up to squeeze out an egg. I don't think mine will lay now until the daylight starts to increase in late January. The added time should jump start them after the 9.5 hours of light in late Dec. Normally I like them hatched by mid April so they lay in fall before the light decreases so drastically.

 

[vonniefisher]

I am in the Kansas City area