Chooks In Winter
Many people contact me during winter saying that their chooks have stopped laying eggs.
This is quite normal. Most chooks go off the lay in winter when they have their annual moult.
In particular, the older breeds of ornamental chooks don’t lay eggs in winter. Silkies, Sussex, hamburgs, and most exhibition poultry start laying again in spring.
If you have Isa Browns or other commercial egg laying chickens, remember that they only lay well for 18 months to 2 years of age. After that their egg laying drops off markedly. I keep ours on as pets after that age, but you do need to get some younger “point of lay” pullets for egg production.
By the way, the ornamental exhibition breeds of chooks go on laying well for many years, so they are often the better choice for the backyard chook family.
Hooroo!
