We can't find eggs

[kevinmichael93]

Do Chickens stop laying eggs seasonally?

 

[BarnyardChaos]

Some do, and some just slow down a whole lot. In the fall when days are growing shorter, the chickens' hormones are triggered to molt (lose feathers and grow new ones). During molt, they need all the protein for growing feathers and don't have much for making eggs.

I have about 21-22 layer hens, and currently I'm lucky to get 8 eggs a day these days.

It may not pick up much over the winter, as the birds depend on 12-14 hours of daylight minimum to lay eggs. In the spring, it picks up again as the days grow longer. However, each time a chicken molts, she lays fewer eggs on average.

You can compensate for some of this by adding light inside the coop and put it on a timer, so that the birds get their 14 hours of light every day. Most will set it to come on early in the morning, but let the sunlight naturally fade at roosting time. Some folks don't add artificial light, to mirror their conditions in nature and to give the girls a rest from laying.

 

[DobieLover]

Do Chickens stop laying eggs seasonally?

They stop laying eggs when they molt.
They stop laying eggs when the number of daylight hours drops too low for them.
Most pullets will lay through the winter though.

 

[Ridgerunner]

It may not pick up much over the winter, as the birds depend on 12-14 hours of daylight minimum to lay eggs.

When I was in Northwest Arkansas I had some pullets that laid through the winter and some hens that started laying after they finished the molt even with days as short as 10 hours. Your winter days are shorter than mine were but did you never get eggs with days shorter than 12 hours? That's pretty much between fall and spring equinoxes, from late September to late March.

Do Chickens stop laying eggs seasonally?

The seasons strongly affect when and how much they lay. Chickens evolved to lay eggs and hatch chicks in the good weather months of spring and summer when food was plentiful and the weather was warm. In the fall, when the days got shorter and food was more scarce they replaced worn out feathers and molted, using what food they found for feather growth instead of making eggs. Then in the spring when the days got longer they started laying eggs and hatching chicks.

But we domesticated them. We bred them to lay more eggs and not go broody as much. We give them good food all year long and provide shelter. Some people provide extra light. The chickens still follow the basic instincts they evolved with but many no longer wait until the longer days of spring to start laying after the molt. If you alter the lights you can delay them molting. There are other changes with some of them.

Do Chickens stop laying eggs seasonally? Most do, but you can have some exceptions.

 

[BarnyardChaos]

Your winter days are shorter than mine were but did you never get eggs with days shorter than 12 hours?

Oh, yes. I normally get eggs throughout the winter. Just not as many as spring or summer. Some of my older hens stop laying, and the youngest ones are just getting started good.