Wow. Lots of answers to this post. I have to admit, I don't understand most of them. I don't know if they are directed at me or other posters on the subject.
I have been a member of this group for three years and in that time, I have seen numerous of my fellow southerners write in about two weeks before Christmas that their chickens have quit laying. The standard Chickens 101 answer is always "they need 14 hours of sunlight" followed by multiple discussions on whether or not it is inhumane to put lights on your chickens or not. That makes no sense in an area of the world that never gets 14 hours of sunlight. Think the equator regions where the days are about 12 hours no matter what time of year.
I guess if all of us southerners had climate controlled, well lit chicken houses we could OPTIMIZE our egg production as Prof states by making sure the lights don't go out two weeks before Christmas but just saying that a chicken needs 14 hours of daylight to lay, makes no sense to those of us who don't get that much daylight most of the year. Based on Prof's response, they need 14 hours of daylight for OPTIMAL laying which doesn't even come close to explaining to newbie chicken owners in the real south why their chickens just quit laying.
In my overactive imagination, I believe that the reason I don't have optimal laying in June when I do have that length of day, would have to do with the 105 degree in the shade temperatures. Maybe if I could climate control their coops, I could get that optimal egg production but I'm not sure why I would want to since I am not a commercial egg producer.
I'm sure with 20 breeds of chicken out here, I do have some breeds that are bred to lay all year. My four silky hens give me three eggs a day. My seven rocks give me 6 eggs a day and my 20 brahmas give me two to four eggs a day. (Someone isn't carrying their weight around here). My turkey lays every other day. And on and on and on.
I doubt the "windows" on my coop are making any difference since my coops are open air wire contraptions meant only to keep the rain and the predators away from the chickens at night when the dogs are sleeping. When it rains during they day, they just run around in it and gobble up the earthworms that surface. With an average daily winter temperature of 78, as is expected today, not much more is needed. My chickens would have to fall in the freezer and close the door behind them to freeze. Cooking in the sun is a real hazard. A brutal lesson that my poor RIR's taught me the hard way when I first started this venture.
I think that eventually, chickens need a break and they take it starting right when the days reach their shortest (December 21 or 22). I don't know when they kick back into high gear. I haven't kept records for deep winter and early spring in the past because they don't make sense as that is when my new chicks will start laying and skew all the numbers upwards.
I'm afraid that for the old hens, they are like the trees that just finished shedding their leaves (they aren't quite done, just kind of stripped down to their underwear), we won't see many eggs from them until "spring" (mid to late February). Six not very brutal weeks of winter. Not sure why anyone would live any where else but here. Well, maybe Florida or California.....
Elizabeth, in the sunny south, trying to pick the perfect shorts and t-shirt to start the day in.
CHICKENS-101@yahoogroups.com
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