Winter egg production

[Guest]

Hello all,

I\'m new to the Forum so I\'d like to say hello.  I have a little (almost 2 acres) farmlet in Utah.  I have a half dozen sheep, 3 dairy goats, and a dozen chickens--8 of which are supposedly Ameraucanas.  (The other 4 are supposedly Buff Orpingtons, but I\'ve seen at least one of those laying a green egg.  I know they haven\'t crossed with MY Ameraucanas since I don\'t have a cock!)

Anyway, here\'s the question:  How well do Ameraucanas lay in winter?  Right now we\'re at about 8 hours of daylight here.  I got mine as new chicks in May, so they are just now getting old enough to lay.  I can\'t find any numbers on just how much egg production drops during fall and winter, I can only find that it does either drop or stop completely.

Also, the weather has started to get pretty cold here, so I just turned on a heat lamp in the chicken run to keep their water from freezing.  It isn\'t \"too\" bright in their run, I think they can still sleep, but could this improve their rate of lay?

Thanks in advance for any information you more knowledgeable types can give me

Liz in Utah

[Guest]

I put a timer and light in my coop during the winter. I set the timer to turn the light on at 3:00 am. With your chickens it would be best to add 1/2 hour of light a week until you get to 14 hours of light. The hens egg production should increase. You will have to adjust the timer in the spring. As the day gets longer subtract the am time from the timer.

I always wait and add time later in the fall. Birds that need to molt will go ahead and start to molt. I then add time until I get to 14 hours. You can add time to 16 hours but my hens do well at 14.

It does not take much light to effect the chickens.

If you have had the light on 24/7 and then drop the light down to eight hours then gradually increase the amount of light over a 20 day period, this can cause the birds to molt.

I would drop the light down to 14-16 hours and mantain 16-14 hours of light.

Tim

[Guest]

Thank you

Liz

[Guest]

I used to live at 5000 ft on the Western Slope in Co about mid-state and my Ameraucana Easter Eggers did not drop in production much. You are probably wasting your $ heating the run and should heat the water only; cheapest way is a heated water bowl from a pet store. If your hens can get outside and your pen faces south, then they probably have enough sunlight unless you are in the very northern part of the state. However, giving your birds 14 hr.s of light will also slightly heat their space and make you feel better!

[Guest]

Wow that\'s good to know.  I\'m pretty sure what I have are Easter Eggers, (including what was supposed to be a Buff Orpington, lol) but it\'s nice to know that for you there wasn\'t much drop in production at 5000 feet in winter in the Rockies.  I\'m at about 4500 feet or so, in the Salt Lake Valley.

My chicken run does not face south unfortunately, because I\'m using one of the stalls in my steel barn for my chicken house right now, which is why I feel better keeping a heating lamp in there.  Working on getting an actual coop, which WILL face South if at all possible.

It looks like right now I have ONE laying, she started last Friday and has only missed today laying, she seems like she\'ll be a good little producer.  No one else has started yet, but I hope they do.  We had Green Eggs and Ham for Sunday breakfast and wow!  I have never grown my own eggs until now and they are awesome!

Thanks again for your reply,

Liz in Utah

[Guest]

PS I think the girls get enough sunlight anyway because I let them free range.  They are closed in when they roost at night and then let out in the morning, meanwhile they can go in and out as they please.

Liz

[John]

My birds egg production drops off this time each year, as the days get shorter.  That is fine with me since I\'m not in the egg business and we still get plenty for our own needs.  In February I segregate the birds, by variety, into breeding coops/pens and start adding artificial light to get the most eggs from them.  As Tim said 14 hours is ideal according to most sources.  My lights are on a mechanical timer and go on at 4am, when set for 14 hours per day.  I use a few different types of lighting.  Most light is given by some 8\' cold temperature - high output fluorescent lights.  I also use 40 watt incandescent lights in the bantam condos.  Something that I just tried last year, and like, are \"rope\" lights.  They are low wattage, but can be ran into small breeding coops so the birds get the most benefit.
Before putting time and money into lights for poultry you should do some research.  Of the visible light spectrum red light (not red colored bulbs) is the most beneficial to increase egg production.  You can go with less wattage and save on electricity if you use the right kind of lights.  
Check out this website:  
http://web.uconn.edu/poultry/poultrypages/light.html

[Guest]

Hi John,

Thanks for the information and the link.  How much does your egg production drop off?  For instance, is it a half, a third, a quarter, of what it was?  I have one little girl who is giving me an egg a day, but the rest of mine haven\'t started yet.  I hope they\'re all like her...I\'m getting to like Green Eggs and ham!
Liz

[bantamhill]

I have used lights with timers and not had much luck with improving egg production artificially with Ameraucana. In my experience the wheaten/blue wheaten bantams and silver large fowl lay the best for the breed overall. I suspect that artificial lights are dependent on one\'s latitude. I am sure that Paul Smith doesn\'t artificially light, but he has temperatures and latitude on his side!

I tend to hatch the early eggs and winter eggs in the hope of continuing to improve egg production. My ideal find is a cockerel that hatched in the fall/winter from a perfect blue egg . . . I enjoy dreaming!

One of my \"old timer\" neighbors swears by using soybean meal as a winter feed to encourage the girls to lay. I have had good luck with the tests I have done with a switch to soybean meal in winter. That being said I think more can be done by not supplementing high protein feed and selecting for those birds with early and late production characteristics . . . it is cheaper in the long run and makes Ameraucana into what they are supposed to be - a duel purpose breed.

Michael

[Guest]

That\'s good information, thank you.  Did your hens stop laying or drastically reduce their laying in winter?  I didn\'t get ANY eggs today

Thanks for taking the time to write, appreciate the info!

Liz

[John]

selecting for those birds with early and late production characteristics . . .

Selective breeding for egg production is the way to go.

How much does your egg production drop off?

I don\'t keep any notes or records on it, but 1/2 wouldn\'t be too far off for hens.  Depending on the age of pullets they seem to start laying around late summer/early fall and then take a break or at least cut back until mid to late January, when the days start to get longer again.
I\'m in Michigan and as Michael said climate is a factor.

[Guest]

That\'s terrific information, thank you  I don\'t know how much actual \"Ameraucana\" mine are since I bought them at our local livestock/farm supply store.  6 of them seem to be gold-laced with muffs, while one (named \"Slick\") is still gold-laced but has no muff at all.  They all do seem to have pea combs and slate colored legs/shanks.  One of them is more of a grey color than the gold laced girls are...I\'ll have to post pictures when I get my cam back, it\'s in for repairs right now...

Thanks again everyone for the information.  This is the first year I\'ve kept chickens so any information that anyone could share with me would be most appreciated  I have the \"Storey\'s guide to raising chickens\" book and it\'s great, so I have the basics as far as food/water/coop etc but now I\'m thinking BLUE eggs instead of blue-green would be a great goal to achieve

Thanks again all!

Liz in Utah

[bantamhill]

I had one egg today out of about 70 hens and pullets. Of course it is December, 10 degrees in the morning and 25 during the day currently in Missouri . . .

Michael

[Guest]

Hm maybe I shouldn\'t feel too bad then, lol...one egg out of 70...guess I can\'t complain about none from 12...but we had 2 today  When does it start to pick back up again--Jan, Feb?

Thanks everyone!

Liz

[bantamhill]

Here in central Missouri I notice production picking up in mid January - after about three weeks of natural light increases. We normally have a \"winter\" thaw in January before the cold returns and the thaw seems to help everyone think it is spring. My production chickens used to really stop laying . . . when I was selling eggs December was impossible . . . more demand for eggs than I could meet.

Michael