Topic of the Week - Winter Egg Laying

[rebrascora]

@Pip4Chirp

It has to do with the age of your hens not the weather. If you read through a few posts on this thread you will find that it is normal for them to moult end of summer/autumn once they are over a year old, then take a few months off and recommence laying as the days start to get longer. The period of down time over the winter will usually get longer as they get older with each successive moult. Hopefully you will start seeing eggs soon. Look out for combs becoming bright red again and egg will be on their way.

 

[ybhco]

I've got four hens. Two are too old to lay and one is too young, but the fourth one hasn't slowed down at all. I'm in Middle Tennessee, and my layer hasn't skipped a single day. I work from home, so getting the daily egg in a timely manner isn't usually a problem. The hens are in a rather small coop without a run, so I make sure they get about half an hour a couple of times per day to free-range in the yard, and that seems to keep them pretty happy. We've also started giving them plenty of dried mealworms so they've got extra energy to stay warm.

For the coop temperature, I went to Home Depot and had them cut two pieces of plywood. One is leaned on the side of the coop and one is leaned against the back. This keeps the winter wind from ripping through there and causing a draft, and it keeps the coop a few degrees warmer than it otherwise would be. We also increased the amount of cedar bedding in the coop to help keep them a bit warmer. If the temperature is supposed to be near freezing at night, we close the nesting area after they bed down to preserve their body heat.

My newest bird isn't ready to start laying quite yet, but she's helping out and getting some practice. She's a feral bird that I recently added to the coop and the other three don't like her very much, so she spends most of the day upstairs in the nesting area. After my layer lays and goes back downstairs, the new feral bird nests on the layer's egg to keep it warm. My laying hen does me a solid and has started crowing immediately after she lays, so I've got a natural alarm to know when to go grab the egg. (I pretend that she's crowing to alert me of the egg, but she's probably just ****** that the feral one is sitting on it. She stops squawking as soon as I get the egg.)

On extremely cold days, I've brought the whole flock indoors in a dog crate for a couple of hours so they can warm up.

Hope some of this advice is useful, especially the part about leaning plywood against two sides of the coop. My flock spends a big chunk of the day huddled up in the back corner where the plywood blocks the wind and allows them to preserve a few more degrees of heat.

Peace, eggs, and chicken legs.

 

[Kluk-Kluk]

- Do or don't you supplement light to keep your hens in production over winter?

Yes, I have a light on a timer in the coop - about 6:30 AM to 8:00 PM. I did not add young birds this summer, so all the hens are 1+ to 3+ years old. I had a few weeks of 1 to 3 eggs per day from my flock of 14, but it's up to 5 - 7 eggs per day now. Part of the problem was an egg-eating hen that I finally caught and got rid of (i.e., chicken soup). I read that Brahmas are good winter layers, and my Brahma has lived up to that name, taking her time off in the summer while others are laying well.


- Are there other ways to ensure your flock stays productive, for example by replenishing the layers with young hens yearly?

When I've added chicks in the summer, winter is the time that they first start laying, so the past few years I've had plenty of eggs in winter. Since I didn't add any birds this year, egg production took a serious dip this winter, especially in the dark days of December.

- What do you do to prevent the eggs from freezing in the nest boxes, especially the folks that can't collect them in a timely manner.
It's been a mild winter, so that hasn't been a problem, especially since someone from the family is usually home during the day to collect eggs.


- Tips for keeping winter layers happy and healthy?
I keep a water heater in the coop, scatter treats outside to get them out breathing fresh air, and always have feed available. The treat of choice is sunflower seeds, but I give them old bread and table scraps when I have some to share. Try to get them vegetables, too. There is a deep layer of straw in the coop, and on bitter cold days when the chickens don't want to come out, I keep the coop closed so that the birds are warmer. I do not provide heat.

 

[SirSanio]

I live in Nebraska. I currently own two chickens with the intent of getting s few more come spring.
In the fall, one of the two chickens molted...poor thing looked awful for a couple weeks.
She stopped laying and didn't start up anymore. I figured that was ok, because it's winter and I am hoping shell get to it again in the spring.
Her sister, who did not molt, never stopped laying.
I get approximately 5-6 eggs per week.
She's a trooper.
My eggs don't freeze.
The coop and nesting boxes are fully insulated and air tight. I guess that's just enough to keep the eggs from freezing solid.










Since the pics were taking i added a dropboard and replaced the hay in the coop with pine shavings. easier to clean.
i still have straw in the nesting boxes.

 

[aart]

On extremely cold days, I've brought the whole flock indoors in a dog crate for a couple of hours so they can warm up.

@ybhco Did you leave all your heavy outdoor winter clothing on the entire time the chickens were in the house?

The temp extremes from bringing them in and then back out is not really good for them...and I doubt your temps were that 'extremely cold'.

 

[dwidick]

My hens have slowed a bit but are still laying daily. No supplemental light or heat I allow them out for a couple hours as long as the weather permits it and I leave a light out for a couple hours a night so they can still eat and drink in their run as I don't allow food or water in the coop for sanitary reasons. Out of 5 adult hens we average 3 eggs a day.

 

[Agarshak]

I live out here in Phoenix Az two of my girls have stopped laying and one is laying every other day or so....Nothing has changed with them same food, schedule and clean water every day..Does anyone have any suggestions ...mine three girls are free range and they go into their coop at dark..I feed them layer crumble, scratch and acourse their veggies , fruits and sone treats......

 

[wild chick]

I've only read the last few pages of this thread - and just had to post. I feel like I'm really blessed with my young pullets. I have 6 GLW pullets and 3 SLW pullets that turned 7 mos old on Jan 2nd. Also have 2 roos (1 Gold and 1 Silver) and they free range all day and are locked up at night. I thought since they "came of age" right in the darkest days of the year it might be spring before they started laying but I found the first egg on Dec 2. Found more & more as December went on and now in January the average day brings 5 - 6 eggs! We've had three 8-egg days so far. I'm still finding this unbelievable. This my first flock of chickens ever. Beginners luck? Natural environment? Oh, and also: No Lights, no heat, and I feed free choice organic crumble, but they find more out in the wild and I don't see them at the feeder much at all. Is the first year the best & it goes downhill after that? I'll go back and read the whole thread when I get an extra moment, but I just had to post these questions! Thanks for all the knowledge & ideas here.

 

[ChatKath47]

I have three chickens, two Amerucanas and a Leghorn. The Amerucanas stopped laying in end of October, when they were molting. My Leghorn slowed down but then right after Christmas, in fact when we got home from our 4-day Christmas visit to family, she looked as if she'd EXPLODED in the chicken yard and the coop! She suddenly molted, lost all of her feathers, was a naked girl, shivering in the cold. We have a heat lamp that shines on the opening to the coop and the wall on one side so that heat goes into the roost area. They all three sit in the glow of the light at times, but Leghorn sits there most of the day, when not eating. Her pinfeathers are coming in, looks a bit less pathetic, but can say that we've had NO eggs for the last three months. Our temps at night have been down to single digits and days not much higher than teens or twenties. Am hoping they are just taking a break during the cold weather. They have a heated water and their favorite treat is the dried mealworms - they love those!

Besides the lamp, we have been feeding the girls "Nutrena Feather Fixer" and adding in "Rooster Booster" vitamins and their pulverized egg shells. I also have a smaller feeder that I put cracked corn in so they can generate some internal heat. They free range in the backyard - when not snowing - but they do come out a few feet to the path we've made to the coop, but spend most of their time in their yard or under the lamp. On really cold nights the two Amerucanas will roostt with the Leghorn between them as if to keep her warm. I hope the lack of eggs is due to the cold, guess I'll have to wait until it warms up to see if production starts again. They are only 2-3 years old.

Any opinions on the subject? Any advice greatly appreciated!

 

[ybhco]

@aart To answer your snarky question and criticism, I brought the hens into the house when there was snow on the ground and temperatures were so cold that their water was freezing within about an hour. They were in a part of the house that stays about 60 degrees in the winter. They seemed to enjoy it and my laying hen has never missed a day without laying an egg, and they're all four healthy birds, so I don't think warming them up for an hour was particularly unhealthy.