[farmers wife]

Cos I'm struggling to sell my eggs when I'm getting 25% of the summer lay.


Just wondering when they will kick into laying again?


Artificial light comes on at 3pm goes off a 8ish.


Any experiences please.

[WoodlandsDevon]

did you say your light comes on at 3pm or 3 am?....
my artificial light comes on at 4:00am and goes off at 8:00 am..... and they were laying nearly 100%!!... until they caught myco... .....

[Buffy the eggs layer]

How often they lay and what time of year they lay varies dependant on a number of factors and light as you have observed is one of them. Other factors are...,


their age - new layers lay more but slightly smaller "pullets" eggs though new layers dont always get going until spring.


Their food source - when food is in short supply it dosent make sence to have growing chicks ( which is the hens motivation for laying eggs even if its not yours )


Temperature - again cold weather is not the right environment for brooding eggs or incubating chicks


Their type - I keep a rare breed breed that lay well in winter so mine get going at a steady rate in Dec and build up to peak laying in May. If you keep a commercial breed you may expect a more consistent and reliable level of output regardless of environmental factors and natural instincts so you may find that you achieve your target as early as March.


I dont use artificial light etc though as I prefer to keep my birds in a more natural way and preserve their long term health. So I cant comment on your use of light to stimulate productivity.

[farmers wife]

Excellent layers, 1yr old, amazing shed, natural light in day, in cow barn over winter and caravan at night. Temp has been very mild


Artificial light at 7am - depending on light in day may stay on but generally off.  Artificial light back on 4pm off at 8pm Enclosed in caravan overnight.


If I put a light in the caravan to come on early in morning will that make any difference? 


They now have organic feed, oyster shell, fresh milk (yogurt on occasion), scraps, kelp.  Nutrition wise I cant seen how much more I can do but still not getting the lay.

[Marches Farmer]

Hens will naturally lay fewer eggs every year and have resting periods during the moult and shorter daylight hours in Winter.  Commercial layers have been bred to lay their socks off for around 18 months and are then turned into chicken nuggets and replaced by a new batch, as it's not worthwhile to feed them through a non-productive period.  However well you feed them you can't push them beyond what their bodies will cope with, in the same way that high-yielding dairy cows will average 2.3 lactations, whereas traditionally raised suckler cows may well still be raising calves at 15 years old.

[Jukes Mum]

My Dorkings don't usually lay much over the winter, but I am getting 11 eggs a day from 12 hens. No lights etc. Everything seems to think it's spring.