Started laying out of nowhere...

[Ronyon]

I have two older hens,stater chickens.
Got them this summer,never got more than one egg a day. They trailed off laying into the winter which was expected.Then yesterday we found a blue egg... Never saw one before,but one of the ladies is an Ameraucana. But there it was,in the off season. Weird.
Today they gave us one brown and one blue.Again weird,at least to thus newb.
The Rhode Island Red dominated the nesting box this summer,sleeping in it even.That may explain why Knuckles,the Ameraucana,never lay before.
Only now the eggs are being laid in a hole the ladies made in the deep litter.
Still I find the RIR setting on the eggs.
Any ideas on what the heck is going on?

 

[cavemanrich]

Very easy, Sherlock Holmes here..

Your Amerucana did not start laying until now. The one egg in the past was from your RIR.
WISHING YOU BEST...

 

[Ronyon]

Well yeah...
So why did they both start back now?
I think this is the off season,and as you said the Ameraucana has never laid before.

 

[wamtazlady]

The days have been getting longer for over a month now. Apparently the increase in daylight has triggered them to lay again. I'm expecting my girls to be laying by the end of February.

 

[ChickieKeeta]

My ameraucanas quit laying for a few weeks. One of them had big bare spots from a rooster plucking her before I got her in July. Recently she finally grew all her feathers back. I figured it was both the shorter day and feather growing that stopped them both. The days are lengthening and they just started laying again.

 

[aart]

The days have been getting longer for over a month now. Apparently the increase in daylight has triggered them to lay again. I'm expecting my girls to be laying by the end of February.

Yeppers, mine are slowly coming back online too.
Some started up a couple weeks ago but then stopped again then started then stopped again then......SMH, fickle chickens!

 

[Ronyon]

Thanks for the replies.
I am so new to this,I had no idea that laying could start up again so early in the year.
Both my girls were refugees from a flock where they were at the bottom of the pecking order.
They look great now,having regrown feathers and put on weight.
I am wanting to add some more birds,but I don't want the ones I have to suffer.