Poultry and Pets > The Hen House

Winter and Eggs (or lack of)

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joyfull:
The nights are drawing in and the mornings are darker which can only mean we have passed the point of equal lengths of night and day. Winter is on it's way and it's getting decidedly chilly. Along with this those of you with pure breed and hybrid chickens over three will soon start to notice a drop in egg production. Your chickens will soon go into a moult and you may find your coops and runs starting to look like your girls have been having a pillow fight.
The lack of light and the loss and regrowth of feathers means that your girls egg production will slow and often stop altogether until late February/early March.

So what can you do to ensure you have eggs over winter?
You could add artificial lighting like the egg producers do to keep the girls laying but personally I prefer to let my girls have a rest.
So now is the time that I start to save my hens eggs.
I bake lots of cakes and quiches and freeze them, and I make Yorkshire puddings and again freeze them (this can be either as fully cooked ones or just as the batter - which takes up less room in the freezer.
I also freeze beaten eggs in batches of 2's and 3's - you can add a little salt or sugar if you wish depending on if you want them for savoury or sweet dishes but I never bother. When thawed they come out like thick custard so I simply beat in some water to get them back to the consistency I want. These can then be used for omelettes, scrambled eggs or for more cakes etc. Frozen eggs will keep for 3 months so make sure you label the containers.
Another thing you can do is pickled eggs which will keep for ages.
In all the years of keeping chickens I haven't had to buy any eggs (except for hatching) so I hope these tips help you to have eggs over winter. If you have any tips please do add them  :)

GrannieAnnie:
Earlier in the year I did have a glut of eggs, so like you Joy, I baked lots of cakes an stuff for the freezer, and sometimes freeze eggs too.

But since the people up the road have put a sign out on the A52 near us for their so called fresh veg and free range eggs, none of which they grow themselves, we've had so many people coming for eggs that we had to take our sign in from the front of the house.

I still haven't got any eggs for us though as our regularas still call in!   :)

We don't put any lights on in their coop either.  They need their moult and a rest like you said, but I hate the look of disappointment on people's faces when I say I haven't got any eggs left!!

andy46:
Hope this does not sound a daft question but my girls are 29 weeks old will they still lay through winter as they are to young for a moult? i am newish to chooks and still learning chickeny things :)

joyfull:
if they are laying now and regularly then you should be fine this winter - they may not lay every day but will keep up the production.

andy46:
Yes they lay every day so hopefully they will lay through winter thanks for the reply joyfull :) :)

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