Winter egg laying

[Al Capon]

6 Laying hens. Due to molting, getting 0-1 daily. Maybe once a week I'll get 2.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

I have 5 cream Brabanters that I did not get until the end of April. They all just started laying. I do not supplement lighting in my coop, but I also live in a pretty temperate zone. Also have a couple second year hens that lay every other day.
My second year Welsh Harlequins are still laying as well. Getting between 4-6 eggs a day from the group of 8.
I was NOT expecting to get a dozen eggs a day in winter.

Hi Honanbm, I have four WH type ducks too (supposed to be pure WH but 1/2 turned out solid white!). They laid so consistently last fall at 4-6 mo old, until mid-summer, about July when it was so hot. One girl became broody, at which point laying dropped off for all of them. Then they had a staggered molt. Two ducks took only a 2 mo break and started laying again in the fall, very consistent like last year. One just started laying again, and one is still on break. Do your WH go broody? When one goes broody, do they all stop laying? My girls seem mostly pretty synchronized, but I didn’t expect them to stop laying when one went broody or for summer to be their down time...

 

[HeatherKellyB]

My flock of 5 pullets that are 26 weeks old (2 SLWyandotte's, 1Buff Orpington, and 2 Barred Rocks) and started laying recently. I typically get 3 to 5 eggs everyday. I'm anxious to see how my next flock with pullets are going to do. They're 16 and 17 weeks old. I've noticed significant growth and redness in 2 of the 16 week old pullets combs and wattles. I don't use any supplemental lighting, so I didn't really expect to get very many eggs at all until Spring. Sunrise is right around 7:15am and sets at 5pm, so they don't get much sunlight. This is a great post!

 

[Conan]

Hi Honanbm, I have four WH type ducks too (supposed to be pure WH but 1/2 turned out solid white!). They laid so consistently last fall at 4-6 mo old, until mid-summer, about July when it was so hot. One girl became broody, at which point laying dropped off for all of them. Then they had a staggered molt. Two ducks took only a 2 mo break and started laying again in the fall, very consistent like last year. One just started laying again, and one is still on break. Do your WH go broody? When one goes broody, do they all stop laying? My girls seem mostly pretty synchronized, but I didn’t expect them to stop laying when one went broody or for summer to be their down time...

She's beautiful. They do try to go broody, like, constantly. I always take their eggs, and destroy their nests. I have to do this daily. In this way, I am able to get them to continue laying. I have noticed that they do try to brood together, so I'm betting if I wasn't able to get them out of their coop every day, that I'd have a bit of an issue on my hands.

Mine did the same as yours with a staggered molt, though egg production never dropped entirely. I'm actually really surprised that they are still laying, though. These are my first ducks that have continued laying into winter during their second year. I definitely wasn't expecting it, which I why I picked up the Brabanters. I thought I'd be egg poor, and now I've got piles of them!

 

[WindyLookout]

My black sexlink went from 4/week to 2 or 3 a week.
My EEs went from 6/w to 3-4/w.
My polish mix had just started laying ...one egg a week n stopped.
My others (2ameraucana, 3barnevelder/Rhode Island mix, one Dominique, one barred rock with 1/8 ameraucana) haven't started yet.
My 2 bantams (black cochin and a cochin/silkie mix) stopped.
But I got some hens (barred rocks , one rhode island, one ameraucana and 2 bantams) gifted to me a couple weeks ago and some of those are laying a bit.
I think that covers it. I've been getting a total of 0 to 4 eggs a day...but it's weird. One day is 4 another 0 then several days of one egg a day....etc. I have yet to give them supplemental lighting. It's a new coop setup and it's on my to do list.

 

[Papa John59]

Being here in Germany, we only get about 9 hours of sunlight during the day (07:00 - 16:00) so we expected our three ladies would slow down. Not happening! Our Leghorn continues to lay daily while the Sussex and Amrock seem to alternate days. So we still get our 2 eggs daily. As for supplemental lighting, just a few Christmas lights from the neighbor's windows (Germans aren't crazy about stringing so many lights outside. Wife thought I was nuts when I suggested it my first Christmas here).

 

[smfarman]

I have 4 groups of pullets, group 1 has 25 -29 week olds 3 Buff Orphingtons, 2 white leghorns, 2 GLW and 1 SLW that started laying Nov. 1st thru Nov. 17th, so Iam getting 5 - 8 eggs a day. I am using additional lighting with group 1.
Group 2 is 24 weeks old, 3 Barred Rocks, 3 Blk Arustlorps, and 2 Blk JG with no additional lighting and have not started laying yet. The last 2 groups are still to young yet. I have a total of 30 - 28 pullets 2 corckels.

 

[Kluk-Kluk]

All my hens are molting so I haven't seen eggs in 4 weeks

ditto

 

[woodmort]

Depends on breed--my reds usually keep up pretty well but leghorns and ameraucanas drop off to nothing. Most breeds listed as winter hardy will soldier on fairly well.

BTW I do use lighting to keep 15 hrs of light--6 am to 9 pm--on the coop.

 

[nuthatched]

We have only 2 chickens at the moment, and one lays all through the year. The other, we're sure she's a free loading slacker and has never layed at all.