I do believe that my girls have gone on strike!!! I have not gotten 1 egg from them for about 2 weeks now. My five chickens are 18 months old.They have been going through their first major molt too. That started in Novemeber. And with the shorter days I figured egg production would be down too, but it has come to a halt. Is this common for none of them to lay eggs? I haven't added light to their coop, I figure just to let nature run it's course. But I didn't expect the eggs to completely stop. Hopefully now with the days starting to get longer I will eventually eggs again.
Last year I had around a dozen pullets and they all stopped laying on Thanksgiving! I added light mid Jan and within 2 wks they all started laying again. This past summer I added another dozen and some of the young pullets are still laying for me. I am thinking it is not only the particular breed (added 7 new breeds) but also each pullet is unique. Example: I added 2 Easter eggers- 1 started laying a couple weeks ago-the other one isnt even very red in the face. As long as I can get 4 a day, I am going to hold off on adding light to the coop for another month I think. Last year, I bought a inexpensive full spectrum light at walmart for less than 15 and put a timer in to add 3-4 hours of light in the morning....not only for egg production but because I kinda felt bad for them with such short gloomy days here in the midwest. Good luck!!!
Hens can take quite a while to recover from a major molt and that combined with the shorter days is most likely to blame. What you can do is up their protein intake to help them recover from the molt quicker and add a light to the coop in the mornings, extending their light hours to around 14 hours a day. Good luck!
Of my six hens, only two are currently laying. And, come to think of it, they are the two who had the lightest molts this fall. So what Sumi said makes sense. Last year I remember a big boost in egg production around March or so - you really sense the rhythm of the seasons when you have chickens!
Pullets are the least effected by the light, and will tend to lay albeit, less than in longer days. The older your hen gets, the more drastic the effect of day length. If you want eggs throughout the winter, one has to add light, or keep a multi age flock with new pullets in the group each winter. MrsK
