[dizzylizzie]

Hi everyone, i feel a bit daft asking this question, but as its my first winter with the girls, im not sure what is 'normal' , or even if there is a 'normal'. I have a mixed group of chickens, some posh chucks, some chavs(ex-batts). We went on holiday in November and they all went on their hols to be looked after by a friend. When they came back they had stopped laying. They had slowed down before the disruption, so we were'nt quite sure if it was the stress or the season that had stoppedthem, or even a bit of both.Whatever the reason, we were quite happy about it as my girls always lay us beautiful eggs, but needed the well deserved rest that they were getting by not laying....even the littlest, scruffiest girl has got tons of new feathers coming through . Thursday, we had 2eggs, then yesterday we had 4!...we thought that maybe 2 were from saturday, and we had just forgot to look, but today, so far we have had another 4 eggs!Dont get me wrong , we are grateful, but im worried that they havent had enough of a rest....is it normal for them only to stop for a month?, we thought we wouldnt get eggs now till spring! Basically, will they have built up enough reserves after only a months rest, i want to lay obviously, but not at the expense of their health.

[joyfull]

sorry Lizzie but think they will lay when they feel ready for laying and yours obviously feel right just now. Two of my babies hatched in May have decided to keep investigating the nest boxes (1 of which I thought was a boy but now I'm not sure what sex Danny is  and the other is the tree dweller who squatted for me this morning) and also Brenda Lee who keeps going broody and has had a moult keeps looking in and her comb has reddened up again so perhaps nobody has told them that the shortest day of the year hasn't arrived just yet. Just make sure that they have a supply of calcium available. xxx

[dizzylizzie]

thanks joy,i know its a stupid question-but hey thats me ....i was just worried that they hadnt had enough of a 'rest'...i know they will only lay when they want to, but i thought they would hold off till spring :happy:

[joyfull]

not a stupid question just a concern from a caring owner 
Short of keeping your girls in the dark or tying their legs together I don't think you can stop them from laying 

[Caralou]

I was worried about this too. My girls stopped laying for 3 weeks and then an occassional egg for 2 weeks and now they are all laying everyday again - even the 2 ex-bats have been and they were on every other day before their moult! As Joy said, lots of calcium and make sure they are getting their pellets and they should be fine I hope 

[janet12000]

All my hens stopped laying after the fox incident unsurprisingly.
Bizarrely the only one that has started laying again is Naughty, who was the really injured survivor who I really thought would not survive. 

[dizzylizzie]

thanks all of you . bramble , one of my original ex-batts from august still looked like she was fresh out the factory...the little love laid everyday, and i was so glad when she stopped laying. Well four weeks later she has got loads of little feather stalks with shiny chestnut feathers sticking out. In a week she is going to be unreconizable . i just hope that now they are laying again they are getting enough nutrients. I know it sounds ungrateful and i dont mean it to, i do love their eggs, and god knows shop bought ones are ...well...ughh, but i still wish they'd had a longer holiday, all i want is happy healthy chucks-the eggs are a bonus

janet , how is she now?

[karlooben]

they will slow down or stop until early feb , i keep thinking mine are going to slow down but i am still getting around 10 - 13 per day from 20 laying birds which is great but this past week i have had some days where i get 6 eggs but they soon make up for it the next day .

i remeber last winter i gave my farmer friend hell for quite a while about the lack of eggs