Patinas
Songster
This will be my first winter with my flock and I have chosen not to provide supplemental lighting to keep egg production up.
The reduced daylight has lowered their production which is completely expected but I have a few hens that haven't laid an egg in 3 1/2 weeks already. All my hens are 8 1/2 months old at this point so no one is molting and no signs of external or internal pests. They all look healthy and happy and acting normal.
I have for sure, 4 hens that are still laying every day and others are laying every 2-4 days.
My question is, would it be considered normal for some hens to completely stop laying due to the shorter hours of daylight? I ask because my expectation was that they would continue to lay but obviously not at the rate they were over the summer and early fall. I was not expecting any of them to not lay for 3+ weeks.
The 3 that have completely stopped laying are 1 blue andalusian and 2 EE's. My third EE is still laying although not as often. I know which one is still laying due to the size of her eggs which are twice the size of the other two EE's that have stopped. My andalusian is the only one in my flock that lays white eggs.
Is it possible hens can go a month or more without laying due to less daylight even though it's only late fall? What is the longest stretch you have seen a hen not lay during late fall/winter?
I'm not concerned at this point, just curious!
The reduced daylight has lowered their production which is completely expected but I have a few hens that haven't laid an egg in 3 1/2 weeks already. All my hens are 8 1/2 months old at this point so no one is molting and no signs of external or internal pests. They all look healthy and happy and acting normal.
I have for sure, 4 hens that are still laying every day and others are laying every 2-4 days.
My question is, would it be considered normal for some hens to completely stop laying due to the shorter hours of daylight? I ask because my expectation was that they would continue to lay but obviously not at the rate they were over the summer and early fall. I was not expecting any of them to not lay for 3+ weeks.
The 3 that have completely stopped laying are 1 blue andalusian and 2 EE's. My third EE is still laying although not as often. I know which one is still laying due to the size of her eggs which are twice the size of the other two EE's that have stopped. My andalusian is the only one in my flock that lays white eggs.
Is it possible hens can go a month or more without laying due to less daylight even though it's only late fall? What is the longest stretch you have seen a hen not lay during late fall/winter?
I'm not concerned at this point, just curious!
