Winter egg laying vs feed

[GC-Raptor]

I think last week we hit the tipping point where I definitely noticed my eggs supply in the house is shrinking much more quickly than the girls are laying.

Last week my two 31 month old Golden Comets production dropped off drastically, from 9 or 10 to 5 a week. I only supplement light in the morning at 5am. Sunset was 4:30 last week. Sunset now is 4:24.

So when light dropped below 11 1/2 hours. Egg production dropped in half.
So with my experience with two 31 month old Golden Comets. They only need 12 hours of daylight.
Your experience will vary with breed, age, health, feed, treats, climate and living conditions. And possibly other things.
You may need more than 12 hours of daylight to keep up production, depending on Breed.
Most recommend 14 hours of light to keep up production.
I feed a 18 to 20 percent Protein feed. Whatever is fresher when I'm at the store.
My observations were with a Sex-links type of chicken. GC

Just my observations. GC

 

[HH.Wench]

My lavender Ameraucanas stopped laying 1 week before Halloween, and went into a molt. I switched them onto grower feed. This is my 1st experience with this breed, so no idea if this abrupt early halt in eggs is normal, but im in the woods also, with not much light.

 

[Folly's place]

Our state poultry expert, Dr. M. Fulton, says sixteen hours of light per day to maintain egg production. I'd heard fourteen hours of light, which is what I've been doing, and egg production does drop over winter here. Maybe sixteen hours would be best.
Your birds won't produce much during a molt, but starting morning lighting now on a timer will bring them into production sooner.
Mary

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Winter happens, and with extra lighting I'm still getting poor egg numbers per day!
Mary

Adding light can help in some circumstances (to photo-stimulate young 20+ wk. pullets), but try as we might, the older birds will still molt and need time to recover. It may happen but I've never had a bird lay eggs while molting. This cessation of egg laying is a necessary rest and rejuvenation period for the reproductive tract. They need a break.
They will restart quicker after molt recovery with some midwinter light.
I keep flocks of similar age together and when most are molting, I don't add light.
About the only time I add light is if a group are coming into POL after summer solstice and they are well over 20 weeks. That will usually be the last time in their life they will have added light because in subsequent years, they'll need a break.
If I force molted early (like late summer), I'll add light in mid/late December, to restart them and more importantly, to photo-stimulate the roosters.
Commercially produced layers live in black out housing and are on a lighting program that kick starts all the same age pullets within a couple weeks of each other. This allows for maximum egg production for feed input. They will slaughter all the birds about 18 months later. It is necessary for them to install a new batch of perhaps a 100,000 to half million birds every couple months in a different barn and in this way they can meet the demand for eggs year-round.
This isn't how most non-commercial chicken keepers do it.
IMHO, 16 hours isn't necessary and may even be overkill. Unless one is keeping chickens closer to the poles, perhaps Alaska or Norway, they'll never experience 16 hours of natural light.
I've experienced poultry production at several latitudes. At the equator, there is just over 12 hours of sunlight year round. Chickens are chickens and they lay just as well there as in more northern or southern latitudes. Those near the equator may experience molt at more various times of year, but they still need to grow a new coat and have a reproductive rest.
Right now, Costa Rica has about 11 1/2 hours of light and at winter solstice will still have about the same light vs. dark each day. In June, it is about 12 3/4 hours of daylight.
At my house, we're at about 9.5 hours of day light now. In late June, we have just under 15 hours of light. At no time, do they naturally experience 16 hours of light.

Perhaps your poultry person is considering a more robust stimulus for egg laying by suggesting that much light. But more importantly, regarding production, it is the seasonal relationship between light and dark periods. Chicken's pineal gland detect whether light is increasing vis a vis dark period. They can even detect changes if they are blind and production of those blind birds varies accordingly.

 

[Sfrye87]

Chickens need light, protein and calcium to produce eggs. It's natural for them to slack off in the winter months. And, some breeds are more likely to lay in the colder months than others. I'd recommend adding hardy breeds that are good winter layers if you are looking to maintain production in the winter.

I have barred rock and brown leghorns (14 of each). They are 30 weeks and 3 days. Brown legs just started laying this Monday however I only got 4 total eggs so far. Live in PA so I added a light on Tuesday of this week .they free range 4-5 hours a day. Any help to get them started as they both shouldve been laying since October and a few just started.

 

[Folly's place]

Welcome! Pullets will start laying eggs when they are ready, and that time varies. They haven't had fourteen hours of light all winter, which delayed the start of production. This isn't really a bad thing from their point of view, and adding light now should help egg production going forward.
Mary

 

[Acre4Me]

I have barred rock and brown leghorns (14 of each). They are 30 weeks and 3 days. Brown legs just started laying this Monday however I only got 4 total eggs so far. Live in PA so I added a light on Tuesday of this week .they free range 4-5 hours a day. Any help to get them started as they both shouldve been laying since October and a few just started.

Lucky! I have 3 Dark Brown Leghorns (DBL), along with 5 other breeds, that are 40 weeks old. The DBLs are very slow to lay. One (just one DBL) started laying at 36 weeks, the other two haven’t laid a single egg. We have light in coop, roomy run, protected areas of the run, and food access the entire day. Water access 24/7. One day I’m sure they will lay, but still an unknown. The rest of the breeds (including barred rock) started at 20-25 weeks of age).

 

[Sfrye87]

Lucky! I have 3 Dark Brown Leghorns (DBL), along with 5 other breeds, that are 40 weeks old. The DBLs are very slow to lay. One (just one DBL) started laying at 36 weeks, the other two haven’t laid a single egg. We have light in coop, roomy run, protected areas of the run, and food access the entire day. Water access 24/7. One day I’m sure they will lay, but still an unknown. The rest of the breeds (including barred rock) started at 20-25 weeks of age).

Every where I looked it said both breeds should be laying by 23-26 weeks. Which would have been in October. They look healthy, no lice or mites. I'm not sure what else to do.

 

[Acre4Me]

Every where I looked it said both breeds should be laying by 23-26 weeks. Which would have been in October. They look healthy, no lice or mites. I'm not sure what else to do.

I’m guessing season and light and temp combo.

We had eggs, then production dropped due to light. We added light to coop for total of 15 hours light/day. It took up to 2 weeks to be back to regular laying. Once a chicken stops laying due to lack of light, the gland and the egg factory have to ramp production up, and that will take a little time. Give it another week and you should see more eggs. At least 14 hours of light to lay is the common recommendation.