29 weeks no eggs RIR

aart said:

 Sometimes first year layers will lay all winter without supplemental lighting, sometimes they won't.
Older layers need 14-16 hours of light to lay regularly thru winter. Last winter I used a 40 watt incandescent light(this year I am using a CFL) that comes on early in the morning to provide 14-15 hours of light and they go to roost with the natural sundown.  Last year I started the lighting increase a bit late(mid October), the light should be increased slowly, and the pullets didn't start laying until late December. Here's a pretty good article on supplemental lighting. Some folks think that using lighting shortens the years a hen will lay, I don't agree with that theory but I also plan to cull my older hens for soup at about 3 years old.

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Zackman23434 said:

Quote: Flicker rates on old style fluorescent ballasts are detrimental to chicken eyes...but the newer ones are not.
I think there's a link in that article that I linked above that talks about that.

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aart said:

Flicker rates on old style fluorescent ballasts are detrimental to chicken eyes...but the newer ones are not.
I think there's a link in that article that I linked above that talks about that.

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