How should free-range chickens be raised in winter to produce more eggs?

In winter, free-range chickens lay fewer eggs, or even stop laying altogether. How can the egg production of free-range chickens be increased? Some key points are introduced below:

1. Add insulation and lighting facilities. Put up windbreaks around the chicken coop, keep the floor inside the coop clean and spread bedding straw on it, and seal the doors and windows well. At night, lower straw curtains for insulation or light a fire for heating, so that the room temperature is always kept above 10°C. If only a small number of free-range chickens are raised, they can be driven back indoors at night.

2. Strengthen management. There should be a run outside the chicken coop, and perches for resting should be set up inside the coop. The stocking density should preferably be 5 birds per sq m. Before letting the chickens out in the morning, pay attention to adjusting the temperature difference between inside and outside the coop to prevent the chickens from catching cold. Normally, feed should be hung up, that is, the feed should be placed high to encourage exercise, help digestion, and make the chickens strong. Keep lighting for 13 to 14 hours every day, and turn on electric lights for lighting when natural light is insufficient. In winter, it is advisable to increase the number of feedings, feeding little but often, with 3 to 5 feedings per day, to ensure that every chicken eats enough, which is good both for their own heat production and for weight gain.

3. Mixing baijiu into the feed. Add 30 to 40 grams of about 60-proof baijiu to each kilogram of feed, mix well, and then feed it. This can increase the laying rate of free-range chickens by about 18%, and at the same time can also enhance their disease resistance.

4. Diversify the feed. The concentrated feed for free-range chickens should mainly be corn, sorghum, bran, etc., and the green feed should mainly be carrots, Chinese cabbage, spinach, etc. During the laying period of free-range chickens, they should also be fed protein and mineral feeds such as soybean cake, cornmeal, shell powder, and fish bone meal, and sufficient drinking water should be guaranteed every day.

5. Make full use of feed additives. Adding 0.05% choline chloride, 0.15% methionine, and an appropriate amount of natural yeast essence to the feed can increase the laying rate of free-range chickens by 3%.

6. Do a good job of disinfection and epidemic prevention. Frequently clean up the droppings and debris in the chicken coop, regularly replace the bedding, and usually pay attention to regular disinfection with Lysol water and mixing Chinese herbal medicine into the feed, or provide drinking water with a 0.5% potassium permanganate solution.