Your chickens will typically stop laying around October or November (if you’re in the northern hemisphere), just when the days are at their shortest.
Egg production will resume sometime in spring, when daylight hours increase.
What if you rely on your homegrown eggs as a key protein source for emergencies?
Luckily, there’s a way to get your flock to lay eggs during winter.
4 Hacks To Promote Egg Production All Winter Long
I’m usually a big proponent of letting hens take a break from egg-laying during the winter months.
Egg production takes an enormous toll on chickens, and it seems fair to give them a few months of rest.
Chickens also molt during the fall, and regrowing all those feathers takes up a huge amount of energy and protein.
Moreover, every chicken can produce a finite number of eggs during her lifetime. Continuous laying means your birds’ productivity will begin to decline sooner.
But your priorities may shift if food becomes scarce and you need an extra source of protein during the winter.
Eggs are highly nutritious and supply the perfect profile of essential amino acids, which makes them an ideal survival food.
This is how you’ll get your hens to keep laying throughout the cold season.
1. Add Light
Light is the number one element in egg production.
Chickens need about 14-16 hours of light each day for optimal laying. The farther north you are, the more light hours you’ll need to give your chickens to keep them laying in the fall and winter.
Adding light will essentially trick your chickens’ endocrine system into thinking it’s the right season for laying.
You’ll want to use light bulbs that mimic natural sunlight as closely as possible. A simple white LED light will work fine for the average coop.
Just make sure to place the light source way out of your birds’ reach. Use a timer to add the right amount of light hours before sunrise and after sunset.
Don’t overdo it, though; too much light can stress out your chickens and mess with their reproductive systems.
If you’re off-grid, your best option is a solar-powered light that charges during the day. You may also use a portable battery-powered LED light, but make sure you have enough spare batteries.
A solar-powered battery charger would come in handy here. I don’t recommend using a kerosene or oil lamp, because these pose a severe fire hazard.
2. Add Warmth
A little extra warmth may help coax more eggs from your chickens.
Mature chickens are pretty cold-tolerant. Depending on the breed (more on this later), your birds will probably be comfortable even at temps as low as 40 °F.
They’ll huddle together at night to keep warm.
If you live in a cold climate, you’ll want to insulate your coop before winter.
Tarps, bales of hay, and thick straw bedding are usually enough for moderately cold weather, but if you’re facing an extremely cold winter, you may choose to move your chickens into a warmer and more sheltered space, like a garage.
Keep drafts out, but make sure your coop is well-ventilated to get rid of ammonia fumes, which are toxic in high concentrations.
A flat panel heater is a handy option for chicken coops, provided you have an electricity source.
In an off-grid situation, if a solar-paneled heater isn’t available, I’d consider the deep litter method, i.e., adding fresh layers of bedding on top of old layers so that they’ll produce heat as they turn into compost.
3. Add Protein and Calcium
Hens need plenty of protein to support their egg production.
If you rely on commercial chicken feed, make sure it’s quality layer feed. However, if your chickens’ diet consists mainly of pasture and kitchen scraps, they may need extra protein.
Sunflower seeds, soaked peas and lentils, and dried mealworms are excellent protein sources. You can even toss cooked meat or fish scraps to your birds, since chickens are omnivores and will eat practically anything.
Your hens will also need enough calcium to produce eggs with strong, healthy shells. Offer them crushed eggshells or oyster shells. Limestone grit is another great calcium source.
4. Plan Your Flock
Chicken breeds can also make a big difference when it comes to egg-laying throughout winter.
In the context of emergency prep, you want a flock of hardy birds that are well-suited to your local climate.
Thus, if you live in an area with harsh winters, I recommend cold-tolerant birds like Plymouth Rocks, Rhode Island Reds, Orpingtons, Brahmas, and Faverolles.
If you’re going for crosses without definite breed characteristics, look for the typical traits of a cold-hardy chicken: a fairly heavy, rounded body, a thick feathery cover with plenty of down (often extending to the bird’s legs and feet), and a small comb and wattles that aren’t as susceptible to frostbite.
Ask to look at both parents when purchasing chicks.
However, if you’re in one of the southern states, opt for lightweight breeds like Leghorns, Anconas, or Egyptian Fayoumis.
These breeds originate in the Mediterranean and can tolerate hot weather.
It could also help to add new birds to your flock at the right time, so that pullets reach their productive age just as the days grow shorter.
If chickens start laying in the fall, they may keep giving you eggs into the winter. However, sometimes young chickens will only start laying in the following spring in this scenario.
Extra Tip: Preserve Eggs
You can keep your chickens laying throughout the winter under the right conditions. However, it’s better to do some advance prep so that if a food shortage hits, you meet the cold season with an abundant supply of eggs.
To achieve this, you must start preserving eggs when they are plentiful, i.e., in the spring and summer.
You can simply freeze lightly beaten eggs, or pickle them and refrigerate, but you’ll have a problem if you suddenly lose your power source.
Water glassing, or preserving eggs in hydrated lime, may pose safety concerns.
Freeze drying is the safest and most effective solution: freeze-dried, powdered eggs are easy to store, don’t need refrigeration, and will easily last for years.
Rehydrate freeze-dried eggs using a tablespoon of water for every tablespoon of powdered egg. Fry, scramble, or use in baking.
