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Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Why The Chickens Stopped Laying Eggs



It's been a while since I've given y'all a chicken update. When we left off I was telling you how Hester started laying, then Charlotte starting laying, then Hester stopped laying and then Charlotte slowed down considerably. (You can read the entire saga here)

Well shortly thereafter, Charlotte also stopped laying entirely. We had an entire December without fresh eggs (thank goodness for Publix) and then up until last week we were eggless in January as well. After many hours spent on Google and urban chicken chat forums, we decided to try an artificial light regimen. Apparently chickens require a lot of light in order to lay. The seriously cold December/January we have had has meant the girls stay inside the coop quite a bit more than they used to and when they are outside, they have less time to soak up the sun given winter's shorter days.


Friday afternoon B Daddy came home with a clamp-on lightbulb for the coop and viola! Friday we had a dark speckled egg. We have had three of the same color since and so I think the girls (or at least Hester) are back in business. Hooray!


P.S. Charlotte's the blond, Hester's the brunette. Things you need to know.


2 comments:

  1. i actually have been wondering. good food for thought - we are very casually contemplating following your lead on this! (no bylaws here against this kind of fun). can you email me some pics of your koop? in all your spare time? :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Is the Home-Laid Egg Tally accurate?

    ReplyDelete

 
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