to cold to lay????

[ke06076]

Hi i have 7 hens and a rooster and winter is her and it is about -30 to -40 here and all my hens stoped laying is this normal and will thay start laying when they get ised to the weather

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Hi i have 7 hens and a rooster and winter is her and it is about -30 to -40 here and all my hens stoped laying is this normal and will thay start laying when they get ised to the weather

How old are your hens? Rather than temperature, the hours of daylight (or lack thereof) that come with the onset of winter can cause disruption in production. First year pullets will sometimes lay through the winter and not experience the first production disruption until the winter of their first big molt (around 18 months) - but even first years can be impacted by the light shortage. One thing that can help encourage production in the winter is the use of supplemental lighting in the coop. This lighting is not for heat, but to make up for the lost hours of daylight. If your coop is wired with electric, this will be easier to accomplish than if it is not.

 

[ke06076]

My chickens are one year old and there is a heat lamp in there so its light in there

 

[aart]

Older layers need 14-16 hours of light to lay regularly thru winter. Last winter I used a 40 watt incandescent light(this year I am using a CFL) that comes on early in the morning to provide 14-15 hours of light and they go to roost with the natural sundown. Last year I started the lighting increase a bit late(mid October), the light should be increased slowly, and the pullets didn't start laying until late December. Here's pretty good article on supplemental lighting. Some folks think that using lighting shortens the years a hen will lay, I don't agree with that theory but I also plan to cull my older hens for soup at about 3 years old.