Hens in autumn

[OhWesternWind]

Hello fellow chicken keepers! How are your ladies doing now that it's autumn?

I am a bit worried about our girls since the clocks went back - we don't get back from school to let them into their big enclosure to roam free until about 4 pm, so they only have an hour or less before it is dark and they are in their house. They have a long secure run (6m) to go in during the day whilst we are out, but it does seem a shame that they are confined in there for so long. And things will only get worse up until Christmas. Will this affect them at all or is it just me being sentimental?

Also, do I need to change their feed at all as the weather gets colder? They have mainly pellets supplemented by kitchen scraps, garden waste eg bolted lettuce plants, whatever they can forage for in their big enclosure (insects, plants etc) and a bit of mixed corn every afternoon.

Thanks for your help. This is our first autumn and winter with our girls so it is all new to us.

well autumn for me this year seems to mean lots of mud and no eggs, my girls have all stopped laying. how many have you got, I would have thought they would be fine in the run, mone only free range once or twice a week and stay in the run the rest of the time. wait till the snow, chickens are so funny in the snow.

I'm in exactly the same position as you - first winter here too, OWW!!!!!

I've just been clearing out a bit more than normal, as there is more poo around, and I've been chivvi-ing the kids to get the birds out earlier

Our eggs seems to have gone up - we have 4 hybrids and 2 pekins... the pekins seem to have given up laying for now, one is moulting, but the others have gone into overdrive....one lays long thin bullet shaped eggs. Very funny

Hi
They are pretty hardy things and don't specially mind the rain if they've somewhere to shelter.
Give mine a cabbage a day suspended on a string (Via a screw in hook which goes in base of said cabbage) and they LOVE this....spend ages on it and it's good exercise if you keep it just out of reach and they jump for it,
also love tomatoes and things in those metal birdfeeder jobbies.
also like those seed treats for parrots you can get from pet shops...again suspend from a tree or their coop and will keep them busy for ages,

Ours have also really slowed down on the egg production front. I hate the wind and the rain and the door of my precious Maggie's henhouse which is warped and won't open unless i bash it from the inside with the perch bar. Groan! How many more months til Spring?