Egg laying - already?

[draggar]

Big Red (our Rhode Island Red / Bantie mix) laid an egg today. I've never seen any chicken lay an egg this early. They usually lay around Easter (usually early April) but last year was the earliest - on Ostara (March 21).

This means she's laid an egg over a month before the earliest I've ever seen a chicken lay an egg.

I wonder if this means we'll have a long (and hot?) summer? I took a quick look on the farmer's almanac site but I didn't see anything.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

I used to keep chickens and they laid year round. I had Jungle Fowl.

You giving your girls laying mash? Also, mine would leave their enclosure and run all over my property eating all sorts of stuff. They particularly liked my compost heap and all the mealworms in there. So I know they didn't have a deficiency of any sort.

I'm wondering if your girls need some minerals or whatnot.

[draggar]

I'm giving them a mix - Layena (crumbles) primarily with some scratch mixed in for a treat. They'll also get some scraps, etc.. The two banties are getting old, I think one is close to 7 years old now. We may get a couple more this summer.

The quail get wild game bird feed (crumbles).

Our chicks normally stop laying around November and start again in April (not uncommon). I actually find it odd that your's lay all year - were you in SC then? mine aren't loose (they'd get lost and eaten) but in a good sized cage with lots of sun (a little shaded so it's not hot).

[ArcticChicken]

Our chickens have been laying all winter. I don't know what kind they are 'cause the most interaction I have with them is occasionally closing the coop at night when the folks who normally do it are out.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Yep, I was in SC. I guess our winters's aren't bad by comparison to the more northernly states, but it does get cold here. Our winters are shorter, though, maybe that's got something to do with it. Are you somewhere where the winters are long?

I really don't know, I'm talking off my head here. No eggs in winter is a new thing for me. I also had roosters, but I don't really think that has much to do with egg production.

[draggar]

That's odd, I thought it was normal. May people I know have chickens that don't lay during the winter - it has to do with the amount of sunlight (everyone thinks - which is why egg laying facilities have lights on 18 hours a day).

Don't forget - I'm in south Florida (Fort Lauderdale) - can't get much further south than me!

[Sliceanddice]

well dragger 2010 was one the hottest years on record since we started recording that might be it too.

[Solumina]

Hm...I had a friend with chickens and I remember quite clearly walking through the snow to help her collect eggs so I'm going to guess her birds laid year round. Perhaps some breeds lay eggs all year and others stop for winter?

[RecoveringKinkoid]

That's possible, and I have no experience with Reds. I had Jungle Fowl, and my parents had the plain fat white chickens. Leghorns? White Rocks? No clue. They laid year round. And my grandmother's nurse brings eggs from her friend that has an organic Araucana farm and it's currently raining eggs over here right now.

You sure your girls are not hiding them?