🍂 What to Expect With Fall Hatching Egg Orders at Akers Farm
🍂 What to Expect With Fall Hatching Egg Orders at Akers Farm
Fall is one of the prettiest seasons on the farm, but it also comes with a big change in egg production. As the days get shorter, chickens naturally reduce their rate of lay. Less daylight means fewer eggs — and in the fall, every flock, even a large one, can suddenly slow down for a week or two. Many birds also go through their annual molt during this time, dropping old feathers so they can grow a warm winter coat. While they’re growing feathers, they usually pause laying altogether.
Here in North Florida, we are lucky to have the climate for year-round laying in most of our breeds. But even with that advantage, there can still be short periods where collecting eggs fast enough to stay within our freshness window becomes a challenge.
🐓 Why Do Hens Lay Less in the Fall?
Laying is controlled by day length. Chickens are biologically wired to produce eggs when daylight hours are long — that’s their natural signal that conditions are good for raising chicks. As the days shorten in the fall:
• The hen’s body shifts energy away from reproduction
• She enters molt, dropping feathers and regrowing new ones
• All nutrients go toward feather growth and winter preparation
During molt, hens often stop laying completely because regrowing feathers takes a huge amount of protein and energy. Once the new feathers are in and days balance again, laying typically resumes — just not at summer speed.
✅ Our Freshness Promise
We collect eggs in individual, labeled cartons for each breed. Those eggs stay in their carton for no longer than three days. On day four, they go into our own hatch trays — not into a customer order.
Eggs can remain fertile and hatchable for weeks, but shipping adds stress — so we insist on sending only the freshest eggs possible to give you the best hatch results.
We do not rush orders or fill them with “older” eggs just to stay on a schedule. Every single order is filled from eggs that meet our freshness standards — a level of quality control most breeders do not match.
🐥 How Orders Are Filled
Orders are printed in the order they are received and kept in breed-specific folders. As hens lay, we fill each order in turn. We always work to stay on track — but ultimately, the birds set the pace.
Even a flock of 18–24 hens may only produce a few eggs per day in the fall, and that can slow down order fulfillment. If your order is delayed, it is almost always because we are waiting for enough eggs to be laid within the 3-day window to complete your order properly.
🔄 Temporary Online Changes
During weeks where production slows, you may notice certain breeds become unavailable on our website or eBay. This is intentional — when we can’t collect eggs fast enough to stay in our guaranteed freshness window, we pause sales until laying picks back up.
We will still fill existing orders as soon as possible — but only with eggs that meet our quality and freshness requirements.
💛 Our Commitment
Your success is our success. We want high hatch rates, strong chicks, and happy customers — and that always begins with the best eggs we can possibly ship.
Thank you for your patience and support as we work with nature during seasonal changes. Fall may slow the hens down a bit, but the care we take now ensures healthy, strong chicks for you in the seasons to come. 🐣✨