On 2nd Year Egg Laying

Rodeo Ekim 16, 2022

I've been wondering about something. It's about chickens, specifically egg laying. It's based on my limited experience, so I'd like to ask you to share your own observations.

Before we got our chickens, I did a lot of research and gathered a lot of information. I relied on the experts, with their credentials and degrees, who told me things like, chickens don't lay during the short days of winter. After reading that, we decided in favor of the chickens' natural rhythms, and opted not to artificially light the coop during the winter. To prepare for the expected egg drought, I froze about 13 dozen eggs. I was pleasantly surprised then, when I got eggs all winter long. Production was down during moulting, but I never lacked eggs for baking and an occasional omelet. In fact, my Delaware finished her moult and resumed laying before the shortest day of the year.

Something else concerned me from my chicken studies. That was, that egg production is expected to drop drastically after the first year. So much so, that most producers replace their entire laying stock every year. I wasn't sure what to do about that. For one thing we wanted to raise our own chicks as replacements, and DH is dead set against incubators. He wants our chicks to be mother raised. Because of that, I decided to put my hope on at least one of my hens going broody this summer, so we could raise a few replacements for next year.

Well, my chickens have resumed egg production this 2nd year, equal to their first. Another very happy surprise. Still, I was puzzled as to why my chickens have been so non-compliant in these areas, according to the books anyway.

Now, I'm not one to argue with the experts. True experts deserve a lot of respect. However, was it even remotely possible, that the experts could be wrong? I don't necessarily mean in their area of expertise, which is production and profit. To accomplish these goals, "improvements" are necessary: of breed, feed, and management technique. These include unnatural lighting during the winter and starting each year with a fresh batch of layers, specifically a hybrid breed developed for high egg production. Let's face it, it's easier for them this way.

Homesteaders and small scale family farms, however, often choose heritage breeds. We do this not only because the birds are beautiful, but to help preserve rare breeds the world might otherwise lose. Could that possibly be the difference? Could it just be that these heritage breeds don't shoot their entire egg wad the first year of their lives, but the hybrids do? That heritage chickens spread their egg laying out over two or more years instead?