Posted: 2/8/2012 12:26:26 PM EDT
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They are not yet a year old have been laying for 3 or so months and just stopped about a moth ago? It's not been very cold in Fla this winter? Not getting to free range around the yard as much as my last chickens.
Whats up experts? Time to just eat them and get some more? |
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Quoted:
I still get eggs everyday but when it gets colder thier is a slowdown in the egg production. There was a study done that looked at two different layer flocks. One was kept in an unheated house with average temp of 32 degrees. The second flock was kept in a house that was heated to 60 degrees. The flock that was in the heated house produced, IIRC, 30% more eggs than the flock kept in the unheated house. |
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Quoted:
My co-worker is having the same problem. He runs a light too and they have just stopped laying. Not molting either. They may molt yet. Here's another factoid.....if chickens wake up and don't have access to water (their drinker has run dry), the lack of water can knock them out of lay for up to 24 days. |
| I've been lucky. My 6 pullets that I got at Easter are averaging 5 a day and my 4 year old pops one out every 5-7 days. Hasn't been extremely cold but I don't provide extra light (don't want to wear them out LOL). We do give a lot of treats like yogurt, sunflour seeds, table scraps and green stuff. |
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We have a mixed flock. Araucanas, Bannty's, Bardrocks, and some mixed breeds. 19 (16 layers) birds total. Coop is 4X8 and insulated.On cold nights (10 degrees to below zero) we keep the lite on for a little extra heat, but for the most part, they keep themselves warm. above 10 degrees, we let em out in the run...if there is snow (not much this year) we put hay/straw down for em. Egg production has remained steady all winter @ 8-12 a day. We have the lite on a timer - on @ 0330 off @ 0900 (warms the coop up a bit) and then again on at 1500 and off at 1800. Even added birds in December no problem
Molting would be my guess. Late summer, early fall, egg production fell off to almost nothing. didn't find a lot of feathers about, eventually we did and after a bit all was fine. getting up to 100 eggs a week...love them chickens |
