Something happened, but what?

Our hens were laying up until the end of November was our last eggs we received then New Years Day came and they started laying. This is a strange year here since they never did this until this year. Usually some of them will molt but not all which happened. We have a 10x20 Palace which is their coop,laying boxes and where they roost at night. Our run area is larger than the coop, not sure of the size right now. I read too many treats, human food will cause them to not eat their feed. If they don't have a space without being crowded some hens will start pecking on other hens, this happened here. One of our hens is a pecker but she is doing better since the winter and now the bigger hens peck her back so she not doing it too much now. You don't want a pecker that is last thing you want. I would turn off your lights for the chickens since is almost spring now. Our worse month for cold this year was Jan.
 
Lighting all winter can sometimes mess them up. Laying well through winter is not natural. They probably need some time to recover as laying is quite taxing on the body, and most hens can't keep it up continuously. Give them what they need both physically and mentally and they will lay as much as they are capable of.

Where is the proof of this? I am so tired of hearing how lighting messes up chickens or they don't lay as long, or they don't molt. I have lighted for 23 years & never had a problem. Today's chickens from hatcheries do not know what natural is! They are not your grammy's chickens. Not all people can or will use lights, but those of us who do are not killing or torturing our chickens!!
 
I didn't mean anyone was harming their chickens, just to say that to change the natural rhythm of the laying season by manipulating it with lights can cause some to get out of synch, which sometimes cause out of season molts or birds to burn out earlier. Production birds are pushed hard and butchered after the second season.

I'm happy it works for you, I mean no disrespect to anyone, and everyone is entitled to keep chickens in a manner that works best for them. I just brought it up because the OP said they were providing extra lights.
 
I didn't mean anyone was harming their chickens, just to say that to change the natural rhythm of the laying season by manipulating it with lights can cause some to get out of synch, which sometimes cause out of season molts or birds to burn out earlier. Production birds are pushed hard and butchered after the second season.

I'm happy it works for you, I mean no disrespect to anyone, and everyone is entitled to keep chickens in a manner that works best for them. I just brought it up because the OP said they were providing extra lights.

For there to be a rhythm, they must have lived at least one full cycle (e.g. some greater semblance of a year). A chicken in Australia, one in Liberia W.A., and another in Canada all have different "natural rhythms", if such a thing exists. A Liberian chicken never sees a day longer than <13 hours, and the Australian and Canadian chicks are on completely opposite seasons. So clearly chickens are very adaptable when it comes to how much sunlight and when it occurs.

But I agree, "everyone is entitled to keep chickens in a manner that works best for them", but I have issues with statements that sound to me like they are known facts...when really they aren't.

I asked this question because I am not the only chicken farmer in my area who has experienced this recent problem. I have no idea how many of them are, or aren't, using lighting. I know that one good farmer friend is not using lighting, and told me back in the beginning of February we were going to have an early spring because her hens had started laying back then. Then, like me, they stopped laying for her. She told me she had a number of fellow farmers who had the same experience.

So, I don't think this is a lighting issue. I am far more likely to believe its a global warming issue...;-]
 
Just gave my opinion and thoughts, sorry if you weren't interested.

Please understand your "opinion and thoughts" were so interesting I, and others, responded. We responded with questions, disagreements, and other thoughts. Why can't you handle this discourse? Why must you seek to express that we must accept without question your "opinion and thoughts"?
 

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