winter egg laying

[clare]

Hi All,I am new to hen keeping (10 ex-bats since july) and they are laying well (7-9 per day) and they are free range and feeding well.I am told I will get no eggs at all during short daylight hours is this a fact or does it depend on breed.Some books say only during a moult they do not lay.I am expecting a major drop in eggs but for some reason I'm sure I read somewhere they still lay now and then can anyone help with this question?
Clare

[agapanthus]

Hi Clare! The simple answer is that some do!! It depends on the chicken and the breed but on the whole chooks do lay better with more light. They should be going through a moult any time now......this is a real shock to their system (sensitive things hens!) and some will go off the lay....though not all. I suppose if you get a few eggs during the winter months, then just think yourself lucky!!!! :)

[Green Aura]

Someone put another thread on about small chicken houses, which had a link. I had a quick look cos I really want hens. It said something about providing lighting if you want year round production. I didn't read it thoroughly but maybe you could find the link - I think it was a new post.

[Thomzo]

Hi
My ex-bats slowed down a bit but didn't stop laying in winter last year. As Clara says, it depends on the breed.

Egg laying is influenced by the amount of daylight and you can "con" chickens into laying more in winter by giving them a couple of hours of extra light with a bulb in the hen house. Ultimately, though, you just wear them out faster. More eggs now, fewer next year sort of thing.

Zoe

[agapanthus]

Hi
My ex-bats slowed down a bit but didn't stop laying in winter last year. As Clara says, it depends on the breed.

Egg laying is influenced by the amount of daylight and you can "con" chickens into laying more in winter by giving them a couple of hours of extra light with a bulb in the hen house. Ultimately, though, you just wear them out faster. More eggs now, fewer next year sort of thing.

Zoe

That's very true Thomzo.....I would'nt do it myself 'cos it smacks too much of factories....besides I think chickens deserve a bit of a break after laying really well most of the year

[red]

sposed to be a good idea to have some POL each summeras they will lay eggs throughout winter..
though obviously you would have to bump off some of the older ones all would be overrun with hens!

normally you will get the occasional egg throughout winter, and that combined with freezing some of your summer excess will see you through. Just have to eat less eggs in winter.

having said that.. we are not getting many eggs and have 12 birds!

but.. 5 of them are yet to start laying, one was broody recently and not come back into lay, and one turns out to be a cockerel!

[Thomzo]

Hi
My ex-bats slowed down a bit but didn't stop laying in winter last year. As Clara says, it depends on the breed.

Egg laying is influenced by the amount of daylight and you can "con" chickens into laying more in winter by giving them a couple of hours of extra light with a bulb in the hen house. Ultimately, though, you just wear them out faster. More eggs now, fewer next year sort of thing.

Zoe

That's very true Thomzo.....I would'nt do it myself 'cos it smacks too much of factories....besides I think chickens deserve a bit of a break after laying really well most of the year

I absolutely agree with your principles and certainly wouldn't leave the light on all night as they do in the batteries. On the other hand, an extra hour of light in the middle of winter won't do any harm and it does seem to cheer them up a bit, especially if it's been a dull, wet day, and the poor things have hardly had any sunlight for weeks. Although an hour probably won't help them to lay much.

Happy hens
Zoe

[agapanthus]

Hi
My ex-bats slowed down a bit but didn't stop laying in winter last year. As Clara says, it depends on the breed.

Egg laying is influenced by the amount of daylight and you can "con" chickens into laying more in winter by giving them a couple of hours of extra light with a bulb in the hen house. Ultimately, though, you just wear them out faster. More eggs now, fewer next year sort of thing.

Zoe

That's very true Thomzo.....I would'nt do it myself 'cos it smacks too much of factories....besides I think chickens deserve a bit of a break after laying really well most of the year

I absolutely agree with your principles and certainly wouldn't leave the light on all night as they do in the batteries. On the other hand, an extra hour of light in the middle of winter won't do any harm and it does seem to cheer them up a bit, especially if it's been a dull, wet day, and the poor things have hardly had any sunlight for weeks. Although an hour probably won't help them to lay much.

Happy hens
Zoe

I could do with an extra hour of sunlight in the winter too....or even 3!!!!!

[Thurston Garden]

Hens need a minimum of 15 hours of daylight to generate the chemical reaction which makes them want to reproduce. Natures way of telling them that sitting on and trying to hatch eggs/raise chicks in the middle of winter is never going to be much of a success. As some have previously said too, it's natures way of giving them a well deserved rest - most of their feed is converted into staying warm and healthy, so little is left for producing eggs.

You can (and I have done in the past) introduce artificial light to extend the natural daylight to give the birds 15 hours light. A 12v kit is made by Rooster Booster which regulates itself and is very efficient, but slightly expensive. I have used a low energy lamp on a long cable plugged into a timer plug. Only do this of course if you can safely! This method, unlike the purpose made Rooster Booster needs to be adjusted as the days shorten and then lengthen again in the spring. I just made a note on the calendar to adjust the timer on the 1st of each month.

If using the manual method, it's advisable only to give the birds extra light in the morning. It's quite cruel to give them extra light in the evening because they need the gradual darkening of dusk to help them roost. If you extend the evening with a lamp and the light suddenly goes off, most of the hens are stranded on the floor of the house in the dark and can't see to roost. "Who put the bloody light out!"

I got a serious haranguing from a work colleague (damn townies lol) for waking my hens up at 3am with a light. (Yes she was one of those who always mumped at me when I had a shortage of eggs and none to sell her....). The hens don't actually wake up with the light - it's the light hitting the tops of their heads that creates the chemical required, rather than being awake.

But, as has been said, forcing (or boosting your rooster!) burns them out quickly - if you are going to make them lay eggs throughout the winter make sure you up the feed otherwise they will not cope - the old feed conversion thing again. And as Red said, hatch a few birds that will be at point of lay (19 to 21 weeks in the main) just as the main flock is stopping. The natural urge of sexual maturity seems to override Natures advice of telling them that its foolhardy to try and raise chicks in the winter!

[clare]

Thanks for all your advice,we are still getting five a day out of ten hens and on 12 hours of daylight so I feel lucky and will be giving them a well earned natural winter rest!

[Thomzo]

Mine tailed off the last couple of weeks. I was only getting 2 eggs out of 5 hens. I thought it was a bit early in the season. So I did all the usual things: cleaned the house and made sure it was red mite free, changed the bedding and deloused. I gave the girls some new branches and prunings to play with, upped their food and tried feeding corn just before bed. In the end, I was talking to my neighbours and they said that the builders have been in the field at the back of my garden, right next to the hen house, with their hugh, yellow, extremely noisy, diggers. Egg production has gone back up to 100% since they stopped digging.

Egg production depends on many different factors.

Zoe

[witch way]

A friend of mine heard on the radio (so I cannot say its definate) that the reason hens stop laying is so that they can turn their energy towards moulting and growing extra warm feathers for the winter. Apparently, if you give them electric lighting then they don't realise its Autumn and don't grow the extra warm feathers and, although they will continue to lay, are at best miserably cold and at worst freeze to death. I suppose you could up their day by an hour or two and then give them a warm coup and plenty of hot mash to compensate? I agree that they have to earn their keep, and ours will all 'go' this winter as they're now getting old, but I couldn't bear the thought of causing them misery. ww.

[red]

A friend of mine heard on the radio (so I cannot say its definate) that the reason hens stop laying is so that they can turn their energy towards moulting and growing extra warm feathers for the winter. Apparently, if you give them electric lighting then they don't realise its Autumn and don't grow the extra warm feathers and, although they will continue to lay, are at best miserably cold and at worst freeze to death. I suppose you could up their day by an hour or two and then give them a warm coup and plenty of hot mash to compensate? I agree that they have to earn their keep, and ours will all 'go' this winter as they're now getting old, but I couldn't bear the thought of causing them misery. ww.

i sort of agree with you - I think we should eat what is seasonal or what we have preserved. But, if you feel strongly about it - you have to follow through and not buy eggs from the shops either... as commercial egg producers certainly use artificial light

[red]

oh and our egg production has gone up recently as some of our POL having started to lay, 4 eggs a day, but thats more than enough for us

[Thurston Garden]

as commercial egg producers certainly use artificial light

They most certainly do - that's the only way to continue to supply stores throughout the winter. A former colleague once worked for an egg producer and he was tasked with altering lighting and feeding systems to kid the hens on that there was 8 days in a week!