Do genetics play a role in winter egg laying?

[Ryguy3684]

With spring hatches coming up, I'm thinking about who's eggs to hatch. In the past, I picked my hens that are big, healthy, and lay well throughout the year. I recently got a camera in my nesting room to check who is laying, mostly to head off any issues with an egg bound hen. I have Buff Orpingtons, which are pretty good winter layers. After the molt, they have all laid, but now that the temperatures have dropped, I've noticed that only a few are laying consistently. Most are laying very sporadically, and a few have shut down.

Is winter egg laying genetic? Or, are there too many factors at play to worry about it. Luckily, my two prolific layers are laying almost every day in the winter, so their eggs will be hatched regardless.

 

[3KillerBs]

 

[TheFatBlueCat]

I'm no expert on this AT ALL but there must be some genetic component to winter egg laying due to some breeds laying in winter (leghorns, production reds) and some not. But I also think there are multiple other factors like temperature (more energy going to keeping warm) and age (younger hens often lay during winter but don't when they get older).

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I am NOT an expert. It does appear to be complicated.

We know light level has an impact.

We know that birds in their first year of age who start laying before winter will generally lay right thru - so there's an age component.

A bird that goes into molt during winter will likely stop laying, or significantly reduce laying, while a bird that completes molt in fall and starts laying again will likely lay right thru (albeit, at lower rates, since egg production tends to drop with age). So the factors that affect molting have some (at least secondary) impact.

Obviously, there are dietary concerns as well. Annd while I am aware of no diet that triggers laying, or causes laying to persist in the face of falling light levels (winter), there are plenty of dietary things that are known to reduce laying. {I'll leave it to others to debate whether the 1-3% gain in frequency and size associated with an 18-20% protein feed is in fact "a gain", or if the 1-3% decrease in size and freqeuncy associated with the more common 16% protein feed is ain fact a "loss" considered acceptable due to the larger savings in feed costs... As Obi Wan says, "what I told you is true. From a certain point of view."}

And there *may* be a genetic component. Brahma, for instance, are supposed to lay thru winter pretty consistently. I can't tell with mine, their eggs look too much like everyone else's - but whether that persistent rumor was ever true or not isn't something I've seen studied. The few breeds famed for "winter laying" were never high quantity egg producers in the first place, so they have no commercial value as layers, and thus, no money spent studying them.

Funny thing. Becky Brahma laying three eggs a week, every week, produces 156 eggs a year. Ophelia Orpington could produce 4 eggs a week for nine months, then take the next three months off, and produce the exact same number of eggs - so eating Ophelia at the end of the season saves feed costs (a lot of them - Brahma can eat!) and costs you no eggs. Ophelia likely started laying earlier, too. (Numbers for illustration modern Brahma and modern Orps, on average, should both produce more eggs than that in a year, on a preoper diet and with good care).

 

[NatJ]

Funny thing. Becky Brahma laying three eggs a week, every week, produces 156 eggs a year. Ophelia Orpington could produce 4 eggs a week for nine months, then take the next three months off, and produce the exact same number of eggs

Which brings up an interesting question: whether you want your eggs distributed fairly evenly throughout the year ("Becky Brahma" in your example), or whether you would prefer to have them clumped into fewer months ("Ophelia Orpington" in your example.)

I once had a Partridge Chantecler hen that laid regularly all winter, but spent almost the entire summer broody. Since most chickens lay more eggs in summer, that one was quite welcome in my flock, because she helped even out the seasonal fluctuations in egg supply.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Yes, which you want depends entirely on your situation.

 

[Poultrybonkers]

I think more plays a part in it...and I will say it...I personally dont think lights make them lay I dont use lights and Im not getting eggs and I know someone that uses lights and theirs isnt laying either all get feed the same to it has to do with weather...i get more eggs when its above freezing then i do when its below freezing