Slowing down in winter....yeah right!

[ncgnance]

Just listen to ya'll braggin' about all them eggs. LOL. My little BR, Henny Penny never missed a beat after molt. I still get my one egg a day. The BO's, on the other hand, have just quit...not ONE egg after molt, in October. I have already made up my chick list for February: 10 BR's, 10 black sex links, 5 RIR's, and 5 blue wyandottes (just because I want some blue chickens.) Then, I think, the BO's are going to "become one with us."

 

[Agilityscots]

My girls are continuing to lay 3-4 eggs a day (I have four pullets), even in our single-digit weather. I have a dozen eggs in the fridge right now, far more than DH and I can eat. Time to give them away again, but I'm not complaining. I love feeling smug walking past the egg section at the grocery store. Ha!

Amy

 

[paganfish]

Quote:
This made me laugh out loud! SO true!

 

[Cuban Longtails]

One of my Bantams started laying again, still getting eggs from my barred rocks and RIRs.

 

[jkm]

HI ,
My two BR and two BO have laid steadily since OCT 10th, one buffy skips a day every four days . I had a light bulb in the coop on a times giving them an extra four hours of light in the evening.
suddenly I am getting only two or three eggs, gasp... and am almost out of eggs.... also eggs can be later in the day.... 3-4 pm, the buffy that skips lays much later than everyone else.
( its funny to watch the three girls compete for the nest in the morning, the BR stand around and scream at the little buffy to hurry up!, then the Br cram in the nest togtherer)
they eat high protein food, sctrach and run around the yard for 2-3 hours every other day, except when really storming ( then they sit on the back porch and ask to come in the house and poop).
I just changed their light to the heat warmer light, its been in the thirties and really wet.

so is it the light? or just the winter?
when will they molt?
I am considering rehoming them in the spring, doing yard work, then starting over with new chicks. hopefully a quieter breed.
any help with questions appreciated.

 

[Cuban Longtails]

Quote:
Mine stopped laying when it was raining a lot back in the fall. Every one of them quit. It could be the weather, plus most will stop laying no matter what you do during the winter and start laying again in the spring. They'll start back up again, sometimes you'll just have to wait them out. If you want a laying machine, get some white leghorns. I'll warn ya that most people say they're very flighty and nervous birds.

 

[6chix]

I'm not getting crap for eggs, 7 chickens and 1-2 eggs a day if I am lucky. Some days none at all. I am not using any supplemental light and the girls have been stuck in the coop because of the cols weather. Even my legghorns have stopped laying

 

[annmarie]

Looks like there's no rhyme or reason to laying in the winter. Knock on wood, none of my 3 have slowed down yet, with no artificial light, and a downright brutal winter. Sometimes I wonder if it's competitiveness that keeps them laying!

 

[eggzettera]

So if I understand y'all yur sayin that chickens lay eggs? Tell that to my girls, not one since October. I think the cat had them form a union and they are on strike.....

 

[jkcove08]

Just braggg on!!! I have about 40 hens and I am lucky to get 2 or 3 eggs a day, usually maybe 1.

I even moved them into a building that I had all of my funny birds in so that they would be warm and they still wont lay. My hubby is talking chicken pot pie soon..

I hope they kick it in gear soon, luckily there are a few others around here that sell farm fresh eggs so we can get some from them but one other person had thier hens quit too. We had 2 or 3 snow storms and ice along with sudden cold weather and that just tightened everything up, if you know what I mean.!! lol We are forcasted to get close to 40 on monday, I sure hope so!!! When all of my chickens start laying I should have 2 to 3 dozen a day easy but some of those will be from the funny pen, I hope to sell most of those along with hatching some myself. Where is the little smily on his knees praying for warm weather when you need him.. Jenn