How We Have Kept Our Chickens Laying So Far This Winter

These are 2 dozen eggs we collected from our 7 hens in about 6 days in January.

I have been told by multiple people that chickens tend to stop laying in the winter or at the very least slow way down. When we had chickens at our previous home this is exactly what happened. We finally broke down and had to start buying eggs that winter. I am not sure if it was their diet or the fact that that winter had tons of snow and very cold temperatures. 

With my current hens I decided to see if there was anything I could do to encourage them to keep laying. From what I read chickens will usually stop laying as the temperatures drop and the days become shorter. I did lots of research and it seemed the only thing I could find was to add a light in their coop to help extend the daylight hours and trick their bodies into producing eggs.

I thought about adding a light, but was very uncomfortable with having unattended electricity in the chicken coop. I decided to try and find a different way to keep them laying. 

One day I stumbled on this video from Becky's Homestead about how she keeps her hens laying all year round. I decided it was worth watching since it was short. Her advice was so simple. She doesn't use a light, but simply changes their diet depending on the time of the year it is. 

The video recommended crimped oats and whole corn, but I decided to use what I had.

I started using her feeding schedule probably late October early November just as the weather was starting to change. Basically her advice was to feed crimped oats in the summer or 6 months of the year and switch to corn in the winter or the other 6 months of the year. She also recommends feeding bread everyday of the year. 

Her reasoning was that the corn had more calories in it and helped give them the energy they need to produce eggs in the winter. 

Not the most glamorous photo.

Of course they can't eat just the small amount of corn or oats in the morning so we also feed them kitchen scrapes and layer pellet from the feed store. I would prefer to buy organic feed, but since we are trying to finish paying off our last student load by the end of this summer we have to cut some corners somewhere for now.

Make sure that if you are feeding scraps you are only feeding fruit, veggies and grains. No meat, dairy or citrus. 

After giving it a try for the last several months I can say that it seems to be working. Out of our 7 hens we typically get 1 egg each during the warm months or about 7 eggs a day, but this winter we have averaged 4-5 a day. That is a win in my books considering most people say their hens stop laying altogether in the winter. 

Here is a sample of my daily routine with my hens...

8:00 a.m. I take out a little over 1 cup half oats half corn. Becky recommended only corn in the winter, but my girls were too picky and would not eat it without some oats mixed in. I then shut the pen to keep them in for the day and change the water. Keeping them in makes sure they eat the corn and gives my poor yard a break from the scratching and pecking. Plus the kids appreciate some playtime without them bothering them. I also check for eggs at this time and replenish their layer pellets. 

1:00 I take out the scrap bucket that I have been collecting since the day before. They get very excited about this. Especially when I have been either canning or dehydrating and have lots of peels for them. Again I check for eggs at this time and make sure the coop in in good shape. I usually have to clean the hay out of the water mid day. Or thaw the ice out of the water bucket. 

4:00 I check for eggs one last time and let the hens out for some free range time. The reason I check for eggs 3 times a day in the winter is because my girls lay all day long and I don't want to chance frozen, cracked eggs. This has happened before and you basically have to trash the egg.

Bedtime I make sure everyone is in and safe for the night. I don't always make it out at this time. It just depends on the day. 

Now, I will admit that we have had a pretty mild winter here in Kansas, but we have not yet had a day without at least 2 eggs even when there was snow or ice on the ground. 

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