well winter has struck with a vengence just when my hens should be startign to lay. they were hateched on the 11th of june. when should they begin laying? we still ahve over 12 hours of light per day its just cold (in the lwe 20s upper teens) and there is snow. should this be a problem for them? they are still spending a good portion of the day outside. peace connie in alaska
They probably won't start laying for a little while yet..depending on the breed 5 or 6 months old is typically about the time they start. The cold shouldnt' be a problem for them..they are old enough. Mine are inside and out all winter and it gets down to 0 alot and in the teens most all winter..lots of snow. They are pretty tough. As long as they can get out of cold winds and have a place to sleep that is out of the draft too they will be fine. (if it is TOO cold and they are only outside they can get frostbit combs and wattles..not only unattractive..but it must hurt like heck!!
I do keep a light on at night for my biddies. Try to keep them laying. In fact I turned it on last night for the first time. Mine were about 16 weeks old when they started laying. They have been pretty slow about it though. 2 or 3 pullet eggs a day, is what I am getting right now. I have 25 young hens. I have 8 windows across the front of my coop, that faces south. It really warms up nice when the sun is out in the wintertime. Good luck
They should get at least 14 hours a day to keep up egg production. Most hens start laying around 22-24 weeks but some will lay earlier and some later. Mine were born in late April and only just started laying last week.
cold hens
Posted - Oct 01 2008 : 09:07:30 AM
