Molting Season and Egg Production

[Oolala]

My sussex stopped laying 5 weeks ago and has molted just around her bum but new feathers are coming through again and we had our first eggs from her again yesterday and today, she is about 6 months old. I didnt expect to have eggs again now as yesterday was minus 1c and today will reach max 6c

 

[junebuggena]

Good point. So more than likely they're on strike until the weather begins warming up again?

It's not the cold that's the problem. It's the shorter daylight hours of fall and winter. Egg production directly correlates to the amount of daylight they are exposed to.

 

[Oolala]

It's not the cold that's the problem. It's the shorter daylight hours of fall and winter. Egg production directly correlates to the amount of daylight they are exposed to.

At the moment the days are grey and overcast and it doesnt look like we are going to have many sunny days this month. I have just replaced a section in their coop by cutting out a wood panel and putting in a perspex window to give more light and think I will do the same in the side of the coop that gets a little of the early morning sun ?? for when we get it again!!!

 

[SueT]

I currently have 2 hens (1 1/2 years old) coming out of molt. One, an SS, has molted very gradually and never slowed down in eggs, the other quit for a month. I decided to let these 2 free range part of each day and the heavily molting one, a BR, who still looks disheveled, recently resumed laying.
I was surprised because previous molting hens did stop laying till spring. I can only attribute the BR s eggs to free ranging which may be giving them superior nutrition? I feed Purina flock raiser to everyone. And maybe for the SS, gradual molt is genetic?

 

[junebuggena]

At the moment the days are grey and overcast and it doesnt look like we are going to have many sunny days this month. I have just replaced a section in their coop by cutting out a wood panel and putting in a perspex window to give more light and think I will do the same in the side of the coop that gets a little of the early morning sun ?? for when we get it again!!!

Adding windows isn't going to help if the sun is only up for 8 to 10 hours of the day. Chickens need at least 14 hours of daylight for maximum egg production. It's fall/winter, the days are just too short for consistent egg production, unless you want to add supplemental lighting inside the coop.

 

[Oolala]

Today we only really had reasonable daylight for 9 hours but two of my chickens laid. My little rhode island red hasnt missed a day since I had her so I will not put in artificial lighting for the winter months and let nature take its course. If we get lovely sunny but cold days in December and we get some eggs then great, but they deserve the break suring the winter months.

 

[BY Bob]

What kind of hens are they? How often did they lay before molting? My leghorn lays all winter, my others every so often in the winter. They only stop all together when molting.