Low egg count

[mjdtexan]

Ok, I know chickens will lay less eggs when the winter is here due to less daylight, correct? The problem is that I have 17 egg laying hens in the coop and I am only averaging 2 or 3 eggs a day. It had fallen to 8 or 9 a day when it turned winter time and I thought that was normal. This week its only been 2 or 3 a day. I have decided to add two hours of light in the coop and I've been doing that for 2 days and today will be the third day at this.

Will this up the count and how long will that take to work if that is indeed the way it works.

It has been colder this last week at night than previously. Would a heat lamp at night up the egg count?


I have 20 pullets in the brood that are 4 weeks old yesterday. I cant wait till they lay eggs.

 

[Jen4]

I'm not any help... this is my 1st flock and 1st winter with them... I've got 27 girls and get around 15 to 20 eggs a day right now. I hope someone can give you an answer soon. By the way I like you BYC page.

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

My 6 hens have been freeloaders for 2 months. I added a light an it took almost 3 weeks to start laying. Got the first one monday an have got 10 in all in those 6 days.

 

[Eggs4us]

I too have had a drop in egg production. I have 9 laying hens that are 11 mo old. Aug-Oct I was getting 7 eggs a day avg. These last few weeks it has dropped to 0-3 a day. So yesterday we installed a 15watt light on a timer. To get it to 14hrs of light, the light comes on at 4am. We'll see if this helps.