Wyandotte and winter egg laying?

cityeggs

Songster
Oct 25, 2021
159
194
123
Bay Area, CA
So, I can't quite remember the last time I saw an egg from my Wyandotte, who is just over a year old (1y2mo). I know the days are getting shorter and hens do slow down or stop laying all together around now, depending on breed and sunlight hours where they live. Mine have definitely slowed down, but my BA and RSL continue to lay at least few times a week, while the Wyandotte has stopped all together as far as I can tell. I also am pretty sure she's the one who laid two soft-shelled eggs within the few weeks before stopping all together (each probably a week apart). I'm in the Bay Area, so temps are relatively mild, and sunlight is around 7am-5pm, though there's currently a lot of shade over their run and foraging area - would that make a difference?? Aren't Wyandottes known for laying through the winter? Should I be worried about something else going on with her, or did she just not get the memo about Wyandotte winter laying expectations?

In general, I do worry about her a little more - she's got a mild beak deformity and while seems to do just fine getting food etc., her eggs always seem on the thin side, even with layer feed and always available OS & egg shells as often as I can get them out there. Her eggs get those slight gray spots on them within a few days on the counter - I have always assumed it had something to do with a more porous shell, but I don't remember being able to find a similar photo in the big pile of egg problem photos/explanations, so I'm not sure on that. I did start to mix in some higher protein feed with their layer feed a few months back (there was some feather pecking going on, and I had the chick crumble for chicks anyway) and one is crumble and the other is pellet, so I wonder if she's maybe eating more crumble than layer pellet but I can't quite tell. Aside from being well endowed in the backside feathers like a good Wyandotte, she's not so great at preening, and I did notice she is due for a good posterior clean-up and some feather trimming - any possibility that this is causing problems for laying? She's the hardest to catch (it probably doesn't help that when I catch her, she has to be subjected to vent feather cleaning), so I haven't checked more closely yet, other than just seeing from a distance that she's a bit of a mess.

I didn't look carefully at her comb today, but I feel like it is still healthy and red as far as I remember. When hens take a breather in the winter, do their combs go pale, like when they stop laying all together, or do they stay red? I also did notice quite a bunch of GLW feathers under the roost when I quickly cleaned up this morning that had appeared over night - could she be molting already? I thought that didn't happen until closer to 18 mo - or is that just the average, and there are significant outliers? I was really hoping to have a few more layers before these girls started their 18mo molt and take a break, but both the chicks I picked out a few months back turned out to be the sort that will never lay eggs *sigh*.

She's definitely not broody, I know that much!
 
Her history of thin shell eggs may be an indicator of reproductive issues, meaning she isn't a typical Wyandotte laying machine. Whether or not her reproductive issues have a pathological basis can't be known at this point, but the poop accumulating on her butt can indicate fatty deposits in her posterior that could be reflected also in her liver and maybe other organs. This is not usually what you'd see in one so young.

You could switch over completely to a higher protein all-flock feed during periods of low egg laying. Many of us long time chicken keepers aren't big fans of layer feed due to its low protein, and it's also a hassle when there's a mixed flock where many shouldn't be getting the extra calcium in the feed. Layer feed is a commercial product designed mainly for commercial laying operations where convenience is part of the profit margin. Most backyard flocks do much better on all-flock feed, and we find it's much more convenient for us than layer feed.

Getting back to laying and light, ten hours of daylight is generally insufficient to trigger laying hormones. I have a flock of eighteen laying hens and only three out of the entire fleet are currently laying, and they happen to be the very youngest.

And shade doesn't act as a light deterrent as far as laying goes. It's the number of daylight hours or if you want to supplement the total daylight hours with artificial light, even a 25 watt bulb would be enough light. Even a street light shinning into a coop of laying hens can trigger laying.
 
Aren't Wyandottes known for laying through the winter?
There are very few birds that actually lay thru winter(after their first winter) without supplemental lighting.
Here's a pretty good article on supplemental lighting.
She is of the age where she is going to molt......they rarely lay while molting.
 
Interesting article, thanks for the link, @aart.

In the article, she says that fluorescent lights are inadvisable. How about LEDs? I have a rope of white LED Christmas lights in my run, not for encouraging laying, but just for some light on dreary days.

Does anyone know if those are safe?
 
In the article, she says that fluorescent lights are inadvisable.
That is because old school fluorescent lights have a flicker rate that is supposedly detrimental for the chickens. I use a CFL.
I doubt that LED's would be a problem, if they are bright enough.
 
I doubt that LED's would be a problem, if they are bright enough.
Hmmm. They aren't very bright. Up close, maybe, but they don't really add a lot of light. Hmmm. Maybe I'll leave them up. The run is to the north of the coop, and with the sun angle, it's kind of gloomy this time of year.

I use a CFL.
I can't every see that acronym without hearing, "Super CFL!" in my head. It was a Chicago radio station we could get, sometimes, when I was a kid. :gig
 
Thank you! I always learn so much when I ask questions here!
There are very few birds that actually lay thru winter(after their first winter) without supplemental lighting.
Here's a pretty good article on supplemental lighting.
She is of the age where she is going to molt......they rarely lay while molting.
It certainly looks like molting today - there were more feathers than poop on the dropping board this morning, all GLW feathers, and she's looking quite a bit less fluffy all of a sudden. I'm glad to know that this is within the normal range of the oft-quoted 18 mo molt - my next question was going to be whether it was a sign of something wrong that she's molting "early", or whether there was a wide range of normal around that guidepost. She's also been even more skittish than usual - flapping off at all sorts of who knows what that I can't see, nor can the other hens, though maybe that has to do with pheremones from the maturing cockerels they can see but can't do anything about? Or just that she doesn't want to be touched while molting?

Even a street light shinning into a coop of laying hens can trigger laying.

There is in fact a street light that shines right into the coop, unless I close the pop door at night (which I usually don't unless it's really windy and/or cold) that is on from dusk until 10pm. They roost off to the other side out of the direct light, but it's still there.

I will cut back on the percentage of layer feed and up the crumbles. I've gone back & forth between chick/all flock and layer and finally decided that maybe a mix would work best for much of the time. I found when I just did all flock/chick crumbles, their shells were more delicate and even though not soft, would crack easily, and they were obsessed with the egg shells I'd give back to them (they couldn't seem to get enough), yet would hardly touch the oyster shell that's always available. And then, with just layer feed, that was when feather picking seemed to start. I thought there was some other indication that they needed higher protein, but now I can't remember what it was - maybe it was just the large number of members here who find that higher protein is needed than layer feed offers.
 
Also, this would be her first winter laying - she didn't get to POL until last February/March (can't remember exactly), so that was my main reason for expecting to get some from her and the others this year.
 

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