Lights, Winter and egg laying

[speckledhen]

15-20 eggs daily from 38 currently laying. No lights other than heatlamp that comes on at sunrise to defrost the waterer trays.

 

[roosmom]

Our temps have been down in the single digits. The waterers have been developing a good layer of ice. Yesterday, we cleaned the coop out, tacked up a 2' sheet of foam and put dry leaves in the gap between the studs and the foam for added insulation. We also leaned a 4' x 2' pc of plywood against the coop on the outside to slos the wind from coming in, the chickies can walk around the board on both sides it just slows the wind coming from head on.

We got 26 eggs yesterday, 12/07/08

 

[Zookeeper9000]

Wow you been having a heat wave over there. Here it's been in the singles and that isn't with the wind chill. Thanks again for sharing with us.

 

[roosmom]

HA HA, heat wave, whats that? I never try to calculate the wind chill, So for me it is always just the temp on the thermometer, LOL.

Sorry you been so cold. Dont send anymore of it here. please.

 

[blueskylen]

we are using a red heat lamp at night, as it has been below freezing for several weeks. - haven't seen a significant drop in egg laying, altho this morning i got the smallest egg i have ever seen!
not much bigger than a nickel.

 

[roosmom]

12-8-08 16 eggs

12-9-08 22 eggs

12-10-08 24 eggs

12-11-08 11 eggs

 

[roosmom]

My hubby has been collecting the eggs, he has been writing down the numbers. NOW he cant find the list so I will post todays and tell you some more of this winter
18 eggs today 12-20-08

I woke up this am to a balmy -18. Yes that is -18. I put a temporary low ceiling in the coop with a 250W heat bulb. All three of my roosters have frost bitten combs. I have begun applying vaseline to help with that problem. The heat bulb will stay lit until the temp goes above ten degrees at night. Here is Bob, notice the blackened tips? For those of you who have not seen frostbite, that is what it looks like. Notice the yellow color underneath the tips? That is part of the frostbite process also, and yes they do find it painful.

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Here is the lowered ceiling in the coop

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[roosmom]

12-21-08 16 eggs
12-22-08 24 eggs


The red heat bulb has been on constantly since the weekend. Temps are around 5 F.

 

[vtchickenlady]

I have 10 hens that I got back in April. Back in the Fall I was averaging 8 eggs a day. Now I only get 1 egg per day. I've had a 100 watt red flood light on 24/7 for the past 3 days. Other than making the chicks more mellow there has not been any change. I don't really expect egg production to increase since the temp seems to hover around 26 when its zero outside. The coop is also insulated. I guess this is the best I can expect.

 

[Chick_a_dee]

9 Eggs today from 15 Layers. I don't think they're all laying yet though, so 9 eggs probably from 10 layers.