The Cottage Smallholder

Hi Caroline,  

Nothing is wrong with your hens, a 2yr old chicken will be going through her first serious moult & that can happen anytime from midsummer till late autumn. It takes a lot of energy for them to produce new feathers, especially after a long spring & summer of heavy egg production¦¦they need a bit of a rest.

In all probability they will not start laying till the new year (when the days start getting longer). Hens' ability to lay is naturally triggered by day-length(ie light) & warmth. Some people try to encourage winter laying by installing light & heat into their hen houses. I don't believe in this as I think they need their 'time-off' but I do give them more protein in their diet at this time of the year.  Commercial egg producers use specially bred hens which have very high yields & they only keep them for one year of egg production before getting rid of them. A hen is fledged from it's egg with the number of eggs it will produce in it's lifetime, already predetermined. The highest yield is in it's first year (from the moment it starts to lay, that is). 

I hope this helps. You haven't done anything wrong; it's just 'nature'.

They get a bit grumpy & out of sorts at this time, but come next year their combs will turn bright red again & the eggs will start appearing. By the way what breed are they? Old fashioned pure breeds are often more reluctant egg producers.

Welcome to our forum & let us know how they get on. 

Nadine/aka Hattie

I have 8 Buff orpingtons and love them to bits! 2 boys and as I said out of my 6 girls only one gives an egg every other day! 2 are moulting though so I hope they may start agin soon. They all started laying last December when snow was on the ground

interesting reading, just going to add straw to the hen house

You could build a secure inner chicken compound for you birds, that would be more feasible. Anyway you wouldn't want them eating your winter veg.  which they certainly would do if they were loose in your greenhouse. 

If you built a large compost heap / bin inside the greenhouse, using the chicken poo etc it would help heat the greenhouse in the winter & keep the chickens warm (therefore more winter eggs. The compost would be made just where you needed it as well as heatingso you got earlier crops. Just a thought.........

I added a bit to the previous post........just to confuse you Joanna.....

  Monday and Tuesday Daphne layed me a beautiful little brown egg. I have put in an order for it to be produced daily as that will enable me to bake using my eggs. I am really pleased the soft shell problem has been corrected

 How are things going on the egg front Aly? Have more of your hens joined in yet. This morning I noticed more of mine with bright red combs & I think Antony has noticed too..........