Moving Chickens

[JamieB123]

First post, hope I did it right.

We just got 4 chickens on Thursday. 2 Isa Browns, 1 Cinnamon Queen, and 1 Comet Gold. These are our first farm animals so we're still learning. We had our first egg yesterday but that's it. Is it normal after they've been moved to not lay eggs? They're all 13-14 months old and the weather has been cold the past few days. I figured that might factor in, but wanted to ask.

Thanks!

 

[JamieB123]

Just found egg #2 as we speak!

 

[bobbi-j]

Perfectly normal. Add to that the fact that the amount of sunlight is getting shorter each day, and your chickens are old enough to have gone through a molt, it's possible you may not get eggs until February, March or even later unless you give them supplemental light through the winter. (It's the amount of light they get, not the temperature that affects laying.) That opens a whole new can of worms. Some will tell you that you will cause harm to your chickens, others (me included) will tell you that it will not. If you do give supplemental light, do not use a heat lamp. It's more important to make sure your coop is well-ventilated and dry than it is to "keep them warm". They do, after all, have nice down coats to keep them warm at all times.

 

[aart]

Welcome to BYC!

Often the stress of moving(changes in housing and feed) and integration with other birds can cause them to stop laying after being moved. But if they are your first birds(no integration) they may keep laying...especially being high production breeds.

Can also trigger a molt if they are of that age...13-14 months is a kind of odd age for this time of year, they must have been hatched in late summer of 2015? Usually they will go thru a malt as the days shorten after 12 months of age....but who knows, nothing is written in stone with live animals.