November in the Chicken Coop

This month our hens have been....

... not laying. That's right, not one single egg all month. It started with the moulting which should cause them to have a short break (making feathers and eggs is hard work on a hen) but we're coming to the conclusion that the shorter days and the cold weather might be influencing things as well. They seem otherwise healthy and we didn't get any eggs this time last year either.

Some breeds of chicken will lay pretty much all year round, but unfortunately ours don't fall into that category and are quite likely to take a break over the winter months. Last week we bought supermarket eggs for the first time in ten months, it was a sad day.

Red Lions lining up on our egg rack once more...

... moulting. Frogs turn now to shed her feathers. She's decided to go for the "all-in-one" method of moulting and consequently looked freshly plucked for a couple of weeks. She timed this really badly as the cold weather really kicked in and she spent a lot of time hiding in the coop shivering. We felt very sorry for her, but not sorry enough to do this. They've all now finished and are ready for winter with very soft, thick, coats of feathers.

... sleeping. The clocks have gone back and that means we see a lot less of our flock. By the time we get home from work its pitch black, they've already tucked themselves up for the night and happily snooze through until the rather late sunrise the following day (today it was 7.49am). On a plus note they're not waking us up at 5.30am!