# It's the weather



## jn4 (Jun 21, 2012)

I've I've always thought egg laying was related to the length of the day . You know sunshine..day lite hours. When winter came the hen's normally decreased or stopped production. "least it has been that way since...well forever it seems,

But now, due to El-Nino , Geo-Engineering,..or whatever the weather pattern has changed. 
Here in South Carolina we had a 2-3 week little cold spell where it dipped below 32F a few nights with low 50's during the day... Also getting dark by 5:30 or so. Normal for November. And as such my birds quit laying, again normal...(here anyway).
But since Turkey day our Temp's have been in the low to mid 60's,.....the last 4 days it's been lower 70's. With 72 called for today.

My hen's are mostly all laying again. Temp related?

NOAA and Space Weather sites both predict a extended warm pattern to continue thru March.........A mixed blessing!
While the dangers of our historic Ice Storms are diminished,..and Heat and Utility bills may indeed be minimal at most...there are bad points as well.

The skeeter population won't die back this year....FireAnt colonies will expand..so will the Palmetto bug and the Kudzu plant will revive. ALL these are kept in check by weather....same as disease, germs and viruses.

Winter precipitation amounts will be much less and it looks like spring time will be rough going to get plant and garden beds going for any kind of good harvest..(or maybe not..but will be next year).

Now the CHICKENS, the normal drop in egg production thru the cold months allows the birds to rest and recoup from the long hard hot summer...some ailments are alleviated by the cold temps and the rest period. What can we expect this spring and summer for our flocks?

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Winter time don,t last long here in the SOUTH but for better or worse it,s needed. .....what are your thoughts or opinions on any of this.


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## jn4 (Jun 21, 2012)

I also mowed the yard and field Saturday......first time I ever had to do that 2 weeks before Christmas


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## nannypattyrn (Aug 23, 2015)

I actually had a plum tree loose it's leaves and then bud out again! I thought maybe it would blossom but it didn't. We've mowed almost to the first week in Dec and even had tomatoes one year! 
I don't know what to think about weather,winter and chickens. They seem to be laying what they usually do. I notice less on dark cloudy days when they have to stay in the coop and enclosed yard.


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

jn4, your concerns sound like my concerns. Chickens are odd with egg laying. I have pox floating around so I now vaccinate for it. With Palmetto bugs (polite name for American cockroach), so I buy more Home Defense. I've noticed that I find more dead ones on my patio. I have also had to buy an outdoor spray that is for mosquitos and it attaches to a hose and spray around the pens. That works and the bottle comes off and you can use it when you need it.

It's certainly a warm winter but there's still January and February.


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## dawg53 (Aug 25, 2015)

It IS warmer than usual. We're still having to mow, trim bushes etc...
We had a similar pattern about 10 years ago except that we didnt have a rainy summer or fall like this year. If I remember correctly, the bottom fell out of the thermometer towards the end of December and we had bitterly cold temps the first two weeks in January (upper teens to mid 20's at night, low to mid 40's during the day.) Then the temps moderated some and lasted through February.
Our weatherguessers are forecasting near freezing temps by next Monday...we'll see how it plays out.
Last evening while locking up the chickens for the night, I got nailed by darn mosquito. Yeah, I'm ready for a hard freeze.


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