Winter egg laying

[Ken H]

I have read and heard that hens lay less during winter months. As far as my hens are concerned, that is a myth. I'm here in Michigan , the weather is cold and natural daylight short. However my hens are laying more than ever. I have 7 hens and get 6-7 eggs per day. My coop is heated to 35 degrees and lights on a timer to give 14 hours of illumination each day. I have also read that chickens hate to go out into the snow. Mine troop out every day and seem oblivious to the snow. They free range till dusk then march back into the coop. I'm wondering if the egg yolks will change color due to the lack of bugs and stuff but so far the yolks are still orange. Maybe due to the abundant table scraps.

 

[feathersnuggles]

Congrats, sounds like you have some happy hens!

 

[cluckcluck42]

Hey, I have 5 just started laying pullets and 5 2 year old hens. I regularly get 4-5 eggs, and yesterday got 7. I'm assuming the pullets are all laying well and the older girls are just eating and laying a few times a week. Unfortunatley, once we get our incubator and get some pullets in a few months, the older girls will be stew hens. It shouldn't be too hard for me to let hubby kill them, I'm really not partial to any of them. They are big, bossy and mean. We just got all the hens a month ago and so far have no bonds with any of them, I truly hope this changes when we raise our own. I thought the hens would be a bit friendlier to be honest. They just tolerate me for food. lol


Sounds like your girls are doing great.

I've never had free ranged eggs before, and I was shocked by how orange the yolk was. Hubby didn't seem to care as much but I thought it was neat lol.

I tempted my girls outside with some rice mixture (bread, rice, yogurt, carrot peel, etc) and now they want to explore whenever I open the door. Today, there was ice all over and they kept trying to get out and were falling back in on their butts, thought it was hilarious.

 

[JimWWhite]

We live here in Statesville, NC which is smack-dab in the middle of the state. We've had a wet, wet, summer, fall, and now winter. We've had freezing rain, snow, sleet, and every morning there's a hard frost. Daytime temps for the past few weeks has only been in the low to mid-forties. Nights have been in the high teens to mid-twenties. But our 19 Gold Comet pullets (all under a year old) have been producing 17 to 19 big brown ones each and every day. We don't push them with lights in the coop or anything like that. At first I thought we must have been doing something extraordinary but now I'm inclined to think it's the breed. The GC's are just the best layers you can have. Great birds. Hardy and very people friendly. But they are pigs with feathers when it comes to eating. Now that may be one thing we do that affects their egg production. They get good feed daily, clean water daily with just about three ounces of apple cider vinegar added, and lettuce or other greens. Right now they're getting the outer leaves of our collard greens. If we find lettuce in the store for around a $1 a head or so I'll buy it and hang one up on a string and they make a lettuce pinata out of it. Great fun! And we also give them leftover rice or beans mixed with plain yougart to keep their plumbing working right. Now that's a sight to see. It's like watching pirahanas in a feeding frenzy on a carcass when they go at it. If I'd hidden an alligator at the bottom of the pie pan that I give 'em it on it would be dead in seconds before it could defend itself...

 

[Mahonri]

I have a light in the coop, but none in my pens.

We actually get more eggs in the winter here...they slow down due to the heat in June-Sept.

Girls in the pen without additional light are laying just as strongly as the ones in the coop with the light that goes on at 6AM and off at 8PM

 

[Scoop]

Mine are working overtime! Got a record amount recently. 10 eggs per 12 hens!

 

[Vanessabuffsnsilkies]

My chickens won't go out in the snow at all. It melted away Christmas day so yesterday they were out and all over the place. I'm getting up to 5 eggs a day from 10 hens aged 6mo to 2yrs. I also have a light on a timer that comes on at 2:30am and off at 8am. But no extra heat.

 

[basketmom]

Quote:
It is the end of December and I have 10 hens and I get 8-9 eggs a day. So it hasn't slowed down for me either

 

[tigerbarbd]

Good evening everyone!! We usually get 5 for 5 everyday!

Our Girls are Happy,Happy!

.....Don

 

[patman75]

What breed of chickens do you have?