# Winter months



## dfucile (Dec 14, 2015)

So this is my first year with Chickens. I have done a lot of reading and have since learned that egg production will slow to a crawl if not halt all together due to decreasing daylight hours. I have heard that if I slowly increase their light back to 14 hours a day with artificial light, that egg production will pick back up. Is this true? Or do I have to wait for the daylight to come back naturally? It seems that only 2, maybe 3 chickens are still producing eggs out of my 6. Any help would be greatly appreciated.


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## dawg53 (Aug 25, 2015)

Yes, it's true that adding light will increase egg production. However if you have birds preparing to go into molt or actually in molt, providing light will be of no use. Increased lighting can also cause irritability among birds and cause them to burn out quicker in respect to egg production. Decreased daylight hours is actually a rest and recuperation period for birds. I've never added lighting and never will.
Egg production goes full speed ahead in the spring, naturally.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I agree with everything dawg said. Nature has a reason for causing the hens to quit laying during shorter sunlight days. They expend a lot of energy during the time they are laying and that short break they are given helps them to build back up again. 

I never provided light for mine either. To my surprise two of my seven year olds started laying again after nearly a year break.


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## jn4 (Jun 21, 2012)

I experimented with this one time..several years back, and found it to be true. Several other small farms around here still carry on this practice. Oo-rah! winter time eggs!!

But the draw back here is that it wears out the Hen...much too quickly. 
It robs them of precious nutrients like vitamin D from the sun and and other nutrients and minerals from plant material, vital for the bird but not readily available in the winter time.

The year I did this my birds looked rough come spring..half thru summer the egg production nearly stopped and the birds were very prone to diseases that free range chickens seldom get. It was a struggle to get them back to healthy again and we lost 9 birds that summer...due to heat,..disease outbreaks and such.. 
As a free ranger those ailments are mostly unheard of. 
Now some do it and get away with it for a couple seasons...some don't..but even still, the birds life is drawn short because of it.

Think of winter time as "spring break" for chickens...let 'em rest. 


PS.. BTW...welcome to the forum.!


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## zamora (May 26, 2015)

Most definitely welcome to the forum and posting pictures of your chickens/coop is a requirement. 

I don't put artificial light on my gals either, I let them have a break during the winter months. That being said, I have one hen that looks like a Buff Orpington that still lays. We have a dozen 'Big Girl' eggs in the fridge and no other ones, I guess it's ok for them to lay all year? I know some breeds do this naturally so I'm guessing it's ok.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Bantams seem to be more prone to laying year round. I was going to say Silkies but then when I stopped and thought a moment, I realized that my other bantams still laid too. Not as steady but never quit, except during a molt, just slowed down.


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## nannypattyrn (Aug 23, 2015)

I have a solar lamp in the coop, but I don't think it's made any difference. We've had cloud cover for several days now, so it hasn't charged at all.


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

Welcome! My chickens get no light. My silkies keep laying. Sheesh.


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## zee (Jan 9, 2016)

Im using light bulb and my all 11 girls laying. Nothing wrong in it.


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## nannypattyrn (Aug 23, 2015)

Hi Zee! What breed of chickens do you have?


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

zee said:


> Im using light bulb and my all 11 girls laying. Nothing wrong in it.


As Sem said, welcome to the forum.

No one is saying there is anything wrong with it but when asked we will give the information that will allow for a more informed decision. Most of us here keep birds for more than the egg laying. Many have birds that are over five years old and some with birds that have reached ten or older.


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## zee (Jan 9, 2016)

These are mine.


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## Feline (Nov 8, 2015)

My silkies are not laying very often- perhaps 1 egg a day between the 3 of them. However they don't seem to go broody at this time of year, which is great! 
I definitely don't want to encourage my rescued ex-batts to lay in the winter- I would rather they just rested for as long as they need. My most recently rescued batch are still churning out an egg a day each, but my older girls are taking a well earned break and looking so much healthier for it. So many of the rescued girls die young from the way they have been forced and exhausted in the commercial unit for the first 18 months of their lives. I lost 3 this year from the 5 I rescued in Nov 2014


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Feline, you have Silkies older than a year if they're not going broody. If I happened to have a bunch of young girls in the coop I would end up with broodies sitting all over the place and dealing with newly hatched chicks in the Winter.

Zee, that hen looks like she was on a mission. What was it?


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## zee (Jan 9, 2016)

She is queen of my hens. Lookafter them as best as i can. Treat them with fresh vegetables and cleaning everyday.


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## zee (Jan 9, 2016)

Inside coop


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## zee (Jan 9, 2016)

Another one


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## zee (Jan 9, 2016)

Outside coop


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Zee, where are you? About the only place you see block fence walls is CA.


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## zee (Jan 9, 2016)

Im from England. Uk


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## zee (Jan 9, 2016)

Robin. I also got these last month. Been told that they are 8 months old by seller. But no of them has started laying eggs yet.


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## Nm156 (May 16, 2015)

Last year they got 16 hrs. of light,but they didn't start laying until Nov. . This year light is on for 12 hrs.


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## SuzieAuvergne (Dec 9, 2015)

I have never used...not would ever use artificial light for my chickens...of the 38 females (the rest are Roosters) they were all in various stages of moult (molt) during the Autumn months...consequently a few eggs on intermittent days...no problem....as December approached..even fewer eggs...now in January I am getting 10 plus eggs every day...so...

Pickled Eggs, Scotch Eggs, Scrambled Eggs, Omelettes and my favourites ...Egg Sandwiches with lashings of Mayonnaise....I also freeze eggs for use later in the year...or when I de worm my flocks...I have 5 year old plus chickens that still lay the occasional egg...my chickens are for life...they have served me well and I do not care if they no longer lay eggs...


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Usually we can figure out someone is from overseas just by the words they use. You didn't give that part away yet.


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## Feline (Nov 8, 2015)

robin416 said:


> Feline, you have Silkies older than a year if they're not going broody. If I happened to have a bunch of young girls in the coop I would end up with broodies sitting all over the place and dealing with newly hatched chicks in the Winter.
> 
> Zee, that hen looks like she was on a mission. What was it?


They were POL when I got them last May (18 weeks). 2 of the 3 have been broody already- Gonzo the cuckoo silkie twice, but they both came out of it at the end of November and haven't been broody since. My boss kept silkies and polish bantams for many years and told me hers didn't really go broody in December and January- so far mine have fitted that pattern. Maybe a day length thing? I have no roosters so there won't been any chicks unless I buy them some fertilised eggs to sit on


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## SuzieAuvergne (Dec 9, 2015)

I'm originally from England...living in the Auvergne in France...hence the way I describe using my eggs...the French people love the pickled eggs! It is refreshing for me to be able to give the French recipes...they are well into cuisine and we swap recipes a lot...and no before anyone asks..I have never eaten frogs legs..nor would willingly eat them...I prefer my frogs swimming here intact in the Mill Pond!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Feline, that first year saw my Silkie girls going broody almost non stop. At 18 months they had usually stopped doing it. Although I have Chickelett who is five or six and still going broody at the tip of a hat. 

Zee, don't get too worried about your new girls not laying that were just moved. That is pretty normal for them when they have a new experience like being rehomed.


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## zee (Jan 9, 2016)

Thanks robin. Is it okay to have big girls and silkie in same coop. Coop is about 9'x9'x9'
And inside this coop i have 2 small coops where some of them stay in night time. I dont want silkie get bully by big girls. I put silkies for few days inside big coop but in cage and now from last few days they are out side of that cage.


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## zee (Jan 9, 2016)

Thats view from outside


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

They should be fine. After I sold out my breeding flock I moved my big girls in to my Silkie coop with the oldies I kept and they got along fine.


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

I've seen those concrete block fences in New Mexico as well. Zee, you have beautiful grass! 

Suzie, are you English, French or American?


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Suzie does sound American most times but she's said things before that clued me in that she just might live in another country.


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## Feline (Nov 8, 2015)

My big girls took a few days to get used to the different look of the silkies before they would accept them into the flock- it helped to be able to see each other through wire for a week or two first I think. The silkies are at a bit of a disadvantage as they tend to wander blindly into their tormentor if they are being bullied a bit- but mine have now worked out how to avoid upsetting the more dominant birds by walking into them by mistake 

They took about 3 weeks to be fully integrated into one flock, and are now all very happy together.


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