If you get baby chicks now, you can have laying hens by springtime.
People typically buy them in the spring, but the birds’ needs in the fall aren’t very different, said Colt Knight, a livestock educator with the University of Maine Cooperative Extension. In the wild, animals have their young in the spring because food is more available and predators less of a problem.
But with domestic animals, those things aren’t as important. A fall chick purchase could actually save you some money on feed and provide consistent eggs earlier.
Whenever you get them, the chicks need to spend several weeks in a brooder, which replaces the warmth of a mother hen. Start the brooder at 95 degrees Fahrenheit and decrease it by five degrees each week for six weeks.
Once fully feathered, the birds are ready to join the rest of the flock and can handle colder temperatures.
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It may be easier to get chicks from a commercial hatchery in the spring, when they have more stock, but most standard breeds should still be available to order. Local farms or your neighbors might have some now, too.
Chickens will start to lay at 18-22 weeks, and egg production will increase over the next two months or so, though all of this varies by breed. Spring chickens will likely start laying in late summer, but stop while they direct their energy to molting old feathers and growing new ones for winter.
That can take weeks or months, and afterward, egg production can still be lower in the cold months.
Each chicken eats about a pound and a half of feed a week. Fifty-pound bags of feed range from around $15 to $50, depending on your choice, and a flock of eight birds would go through a bag once a month or so.
Some farmers “trick” their birds into laying through winter using artificial light. Chickens have a pineal gland that responds to light and encourages egg production when the sun (or a lamp) shines for at least 14 hours a day.
But the birds are born with all the eggs they’ll ever produce, so their laying lifespan will be shorter with this method.
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If you use artificial light, you can reduce stress on your chickens by only turning it on in the morning.
The birds begin settling down for the night several hours before sundown, according to Knight. If you keep a light on until late and suddenly plunge them into darkness, it disrupts their natural clock and stresses them out, which can harm their health.
No matter how old your chickens are, there are a few things to keep in mind as winter approaches. They need well-ventilated coops, but also need to be protected from drafts.
Practically speaking, that means no direct gusts of air should be hitting the birds, Knight said. You can fit a vent over the eaves to moderate that wind. Even if it’s cold out, fresh air circulation reduces the likelihood your birds will get sick, and the humidity they naturally produce can actually make them feel colder if it builds up.
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Another thing people often don’t know about winter bird care is that wider roosts are safer, according to Knight. In cold temperatures, birds keep themselves warm by ruffling their feathers over their feet. On a thin perch, like a branch or a rod, their toes stick out and can get frostbite.
Fully grown birds can handle most cold temperatures, and heat lamps are a major fire hazard.
There is a natural way to provide your chickens some heat that’s easier on you, though: the “deep bedding” method of building up a layer of six inches or more of sawdust on the floor of the coop, then turning it over with a pitchfork regularly and adding more sawdust when it gets packed down. The chicken waste will begin to compost in this system, producing warmth and also keeping disease-causing pathogens down.
In the spring, you’ll need to clean out the coop, and if fully composted and aged, the litter should be safe to use in your garden.
