Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

Pics
Date sort Score sort
Congrats on your new babies, Fisherlady! You have the best luck with broody hens.

My younger girls were just starting to lay a few weeks ago during the warm spell. Since the colder temps have hit, they seem to be on strike. I'm ready for some fresh eggs again. Once they start up, I'll be overrun with eggs, since I have around 3 dozen pullets of assorted breeds.
 
No lights here either. Just natural sunlight, which there is a lot of in the winter, actually, just not for a very long time. I don't know why but my girls have been laying nonstop since they all started in November. One at a time they've started till I've got 5 now going strong. We get between 3 and 5 eggs a day depending on who's taking a day off. I wonder why some people's chickens stop laying and some don't. I hear people saying their pullets didn't start laying over the winter or that they started when it was warmer and stopped when it got cold. Even my Sebrights give me 5 to 6 eggs a week. I guess maybe my coop is just in the exact right spot to make the most of the natural sun or something...
 
Katt66 said:
No lights here either.  Just natural sunlight, which there is a lot of in the winter, actually, just not for a very long time.  I don't know why but my girls have been laying nonstop since they all started in November.  One at a time they've started till I've got 5 now going strong.  We get between 3 and 5 eggs a day depending on who's taking a day off.    I wonder why some people's chickens stop laying and some don't.  I hear people saying their pullets didn't start laying over the winter or that they started when it was warmer and stopped when it got cold.   Even my Sebrights give me 5 to 6 eggs a week.  I guess maybe my coop is just in the exact right spot to make the most of the natural sun or something...
Click to expand...


I may be wrong but I believe that there are some breeds that can lay even with lack of sunlight
 
I was just curious as to why people put the lights up, seems to me that if a hen stops laying it is for a reason, and more due to the fact that I have heard a lot about coop fires lately...

but then I do not supplement heat either, i do change windows out for a more solid wind block but otherwise mother nature is in control all winter....

I hear all kinds of different ways that folks do things and sometimes I just wonder why, and if I ask at the time, somehow when in writing like this it is taken wrong,,,,,,,,not challenging any one's way of doing things just a need to know the reasoning behind it.
 
wingstone said:
I was just curious as to why people put the lights up,   seems to me that if a hen stops laying it is for a reason,   and more due to the fact that I have heard  a lot about coop fires lately...

but then I do not supplement heat either,  i do change windows out for a more solid wind block but otherwise mother nature is in control all winter....

I hear all kinds of different ways that folks do things and sometimes I just wonder why, and if I ask at the time, somehow when in writing like this it  is taken wrong,,,,,,,,not challenging any one's way of doing things just a need to know the reasoning behind it.
Click to expand...


I guess some people rely on their hens more as egg layers then pets. I personally don't need the eggs that bad so I don't worry. My philosophy is similar to yours, that the chickens need to stop for a reason, they need a break. I feel artificial lighting over works them. Plus it's "artificial" so I would assume it doesn't offer the same amount of whatever from the sun the chickens need
 
Last edited:
wingstone said:
I was just curious as to why people put the lights up, seems to me that if a hen stops laying it is for a reason, and more due to the fact that I have heard a lot about coop fires lately...

but then I do not supplement heat either, i do change windows out for a more solid wind block but otherwise mother nature is in control all winter....

I hear all kinds of different ways that folks do things and sometimes I just wonder why, and if I ask at the time, somehow when in writing like this it is taken wrong,,,,,,,,not challenging any one's way of doing things just a need to know the reasoning behind it.
Click to expand...

I'll take a stab at this. If someone has a business selling eggs, and treats it as a business where they need to produce a certain income in relation to expenses, and where they will lose customers if they don't have a product available year round, they use lights to keep production as consistent as possible.

It's one thing to feed half a dozen non-producing hens for a couple months, and another thing entirely to feed a hundred hens, especially when the income from eggs helps pay the farmer's bills.
 
beaglady said:
Quote: this sounds like a typical production house set up...which is what most people start raising backyard chickens to avoid......which is my basic question, why do backyard chicken keepers put lights up,,,


I do understand the business point of view but very few of us do this as a means of income..(yes I know a few do rely on the egg income)
Click to expand...
 
Katt66 said:
No lights here either.  Just natural sunlight, which there is a lot of in the winter, actually, just not for a very long time.  I don't know why but my girls have been laying nonstop since they all started in November.  One at a time they've started till I've got 5 now going strong.  We get between 3 and 5 eggs a day depending on who's taking a day off.    I wonder why some people's chickens stop laying and some don't.  I hear people saying their pullets didn't start laying over the winter or that they started when it was warmer and stopped when it got cold.   Even my Sebrights give me 5 to 6 eggs a week.  I guess maybe my coop is just in the exact right spot to make the most of the natural sun or something...
Click to expand...


Made it a point to put the big window on my coop on a south facing, and a pair of skylights in the roof. Lotsa light which is why I think mine keep laying.
 
ok:

I'll take a second stab.....backyard folks sometimes add lights for heat....(I don't btw)...

On another note here's what my crew is doing.....my late blooming Dork, has laid three eggs in the past four days.....one or both Orps are combined lay about 3 per week.....My GLWs are both molting and haven't laid an egg in a couple of months...and the BCMs have both laid regularly since the fall....

and just to re-enforce how weird things are, I have a baby roo who is about 7mos old and hasen't crowed once....though he did show some interest in the dork...(she made a fuss and he gave up)...

And, just because I am green with envy with coops full of broodies, or baters full of eggs, I decided to start my seedling today....
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom