Zero Eggs!😫

[B_Chickle01]

I apologize, I was attempting some humor, but I guess I did it wrong ...

No you’re fine you don’t need to apologize I just didn’t know if you saw where I said in one thread people’s were still laying lol

 

[B_Chickle01]

Pullets often, but not always, lay thru their first winter without supplemental lighting.
It can depend on when they were hatched.

I was responding to this post:

Oh ok I’m sorry!

 

[B_Chickle01]

The first year the birds will go through several molts. Sometimes they will lay then suddenly stop for awhile. It happens. They will start up again and will lay good. Some breeds do tend to start laying later than others. I have some heritage breeds that don't start laying until they are around 8/9 months old. They are just starting to lay now. Some of my others have been laying for awhile. My older birds aren't laying well and I get an some eggs from them now and then. I do get eggs every day but I have a lot of birds. In the spring they will lay. I will have eggs galore then. I don't know how important light is. Years ago I had lights in every coop on a timer. My timer died but I just left the lights on. They are rather dim LED lights. They are 1 watt each but put out light equivalent to 11 watts each. I have one light in each coop. They stay on 24/7/365. The birds don't seem to be laying any differently. Maybe it's not bright enough to really affect them. I have a friend who raises Sebrights for show. His birds usually stop laying in the winters here. Come spring all of the birds will start laying well. At least here they do.

They’ve been laying for months now they started in the summer they were even laying for the first couple weeks in dec then it got super cold and we got hit hard with our first big storm and they just stopped laying! We have a light we keep on too all day and night during cold months because of them being bantams and I read they aren’t like winter hardy so I didn’t want them to be cold. The light we have is a blue “night time light” so it doesn’t throw off light it’s just for heat! It’s like one of those reptile lights.

 

[stavo]

Pullets often, but not always, lay thru their first winter without supplemental lighting.
It can depend on when they were hatched.

aart (or anyone else for that matter), are you saying that sometimes pullets will lay through their first winter but then shut it down completely in subsequent winters?


I have a mixed flock of fifteen 1 1/2 and 2 1/2 year olds. They all slowed slightly through their first winter, but still remained productive. Now they're on their second and third winters, and we get a total of one egg every other day - and I suspect it's from the same one hen. I can check off all the other boxes for reasons that 14 of them seemingly have stopped:

* clean water
* diet of mostly layer pellets, very little treats
* California winter mild compared to other parts
* no stress
* no overcrowding
* no visible signs of parasites or illness
* heavy molt started three months ago, new feathers came in a month ago

I basically went from 8-11 eggs a day to 1 every other day. Should winter make THAT much of a difference?

 

[stavo]

Yup, absolutely. Many of us get NO eggs from hens post molt (which for me started as early as July this year), all the way through winter solstice, and up until days start lengthing more noticeably. For me that'd be around March for the majority of the flock.

Well thank you for that response, which puts my mind more at ease. Just odd that this is not what I experienced my first two winters with chickens. Is it safe to say that was due to them being pullets?

 

[rosemarythyme]

Yikes. So basically you are saying your chickens are productive for about four months of the year: April, May, June and hopefully most of July. That's no bueno!

Well the July one was an outlier thankfully... went broody, molted, and "retired" for the year. This year 2 of the oldest hens gave up around August, while 2 of the younger hens continued through October. 3 of 4 pullets are steadily laying now, so at least I have eggs this winter and enough to share with family too.

My routine is to save up eggs starting in September (aka stop giving away freebies to family), if there's no pullets. As long as I don't go on an omelet spree, I can stretch out the egg stash to around January, and then 1 or 2 birds might start up in February, so that's enough to get by. I don't eat THAT many eggs thankfully!

 

[aart]

Just odd that this is not what I experienced my first two winters with chickens. Is it safe to say that was due to them being pullets?

Were the birds laying over winter less than 10-12 months old?
What breeds were they?
Some high production hybrids will lay and lay and lay and lay and lay.

 

[aart]

I guess what I'm hearing is that their molt is not as bad the first year so it doesn't affect production as much.

Most don't have a molt the first fall/winter.

 

[B_Chickle01]

Completely normal, unless you are providing supplemental light. Hens shut down on the shorter light days of winter. It's good for their longevity, if that matters to you. I have 60+ hens this winter and in the last 4 weeks, we've been in the single digits. I added 7 hens in April, who are pretty much the only ones laying right now, and another 20 hens in September. They'll start laying in March. Basically, if you want winter eggs, get chicks in April/May. They won't be molting in September and will be more likely to lay in the short days of winter as it's their first season. Older hens will shut down, but, for me, I'm fine with that, because it means they will live and lay longer.

I won’t do supplemental lights I read it’s not really good for them it’s unnatural to force their laying so Id much rather let nature run it’s course. I have a light but it’s a nighttime bulb so it doesn’t give off light just for heat. They do need the heat they aren’t very winter hardy birds. My chicks were purchased in May!

 

[myluckychucks]

As for supplemental lighting and longevity. My banties go outside in a fenced run when there is no snow so there are dangers( hawks, fishers,foxes that can jump 6 feet) and I have had many silkies and cochin crosses live to 12,13, 15 years.