Stella's Social Club

[speckledhen]

for what it's worth, i've got five girls who just reached POL in mid-late Nov, and they all started laying without any additional light, and are still going strong -- so light may not be necessary?

Younger hens will generally lay all winter without light. As they age, they naturally slow down, which is the way it is supposed to be. My bantam D'Anvers are the only ones who are not really winter layers but I don't expect them to be, knew about that when I got them, and don't rely on them for eating eggs anyway as they are basically just pets. All my Delawares, Orps and Rocks lay through the winter as younger birds. Even now, I have birds who are 5-7 years old laying in December. Thank God, only one hen is a hatchery hen at this point, but she's outlived all other hatchery birds I've had, my Buff Brahma, Caroline. In May, it will be 2 years since she produced an egg, though, and no amount of light can fix that. She's done.

 

[chiqita]

Apologies for my Android spelling..

Ok love the coop and am stealing the phrase.

2 of my silkies layed. I was shocked! They are not small eggs either so I'm not sure if they are new layers.

 

[ronott1]

for what it's worth, i've got five girls who just reached POL in mid-late Nov, and they all started laying without any additional light, and are still going strong -- so light may not be necessary?

Younger hens will generally lay all winter without light. As they age, they naturally slow down, which is the way it is supposed to be. My bantam D'Anvers are the only ones who are not really winter layers but I don't expect them to be, knew about that when I got them, and don't rely on them for eating eggs anyway as they are basically just pets. All my Delawares, Orps and Rocks lay through the winter as younger birds. Even now, I have birds who are 5-7 years old laying in December. Thank God, only one hen is a hatchery hen at this point, but she's outlived all other hatchery birds I've had, my Buff Brahma, Caroline. In May, it will be 2 years since she produced an egg, though, and no amount of light can fix that. She's done.

Yes and especially with breeds not crossed with leghorns. They seem to need light even as pullets. Most Hatchery birds of any breed have been crossed with leghorns and will need light to lay in the winter.

Going Broody and not laying when molting is natures break time for Hens. Laying in the winter is a function of Latitude and the Breeds light needs.

 

[ronott1]

Ok love the coop and am stealing the phrase.

2 of my silkies layed. I was shocked! They are not small eggs either so I'm not sure if they are new layers.

Congrats on the new layers!

 

[1muttsfan]

I got an egg today!! One of my sweet Delawares, molted this fall and all snowy white.

 

[ronott1]

I got an egg today!! One of my sweet Delawares, molted this fall and all snowy white.

Do you have Dels from Kathy?

 

[speckledhen]

My almost 5 year old Dellie hen, Ellie, has been laying. Georgie, on the other hand, took a few weeks off for her molt. She'll be back into production soon, though. My Delawares are great layers, even at their age.



The thing is that lighting them may make them burn out faster /malfunction earlier. Some would say not, but I'm not convinced. Hatchery stock keels over early anyway, for the most part, and I'm not doing anything to make that happen any sooner after losing about 15 of them to internal laying/egg yolk peritonitis. Of course, I no longer keep hatchery stock, but I still do not add light. I'm not a commercial operation that sells eggs and "rotates stock", a euphemism for killing them at two years of age, sometimes sooner, so no need to light them and push them. I guess some commercial operations sell them off as spent layers, but probably most don't bother. If you plan to sell them off or process them when they slow down, guess extra light doesn't really matter much to their lifespans.

My old arthritic hens get a heat lamp. Amanda can barely walk now. Cold is very painful for her. I guess that red light puts out some light, but it's a different type, not a simulation of daylight.

 

[The Sheriff]

Is anyone else having trouble posting? I type two words and it reloads. Been this way two days. This post took 3 reloads.

 

[ronott1]

Is anyone else having trouble posting? I type two words and it reloads. Been this way two days. This post took 3 reloads.

It looks like some are having trouble posting and uploading pictures. I did get editor failures yesterday--It showed HTML code.

I suspect something not working correctly with IE and Safari. Chrome and Fire fox are working fine today.

I posted this using Chrome.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Quote:

I give light from 5 to 10 pm for the girls lower on the peck order to snack and fill their crops before retiring for the night. With days so short like this, I have noticed that my timid Buff Minorca pullets rely on this time to fill their crops when the top hens are on the roost.

Also I am hoping that by keeping the roosters awake until 10 pm, they won't be as inclined to crow so early in the morning.