Artificial light for hens to lay without having our rooster crow at 3:00am

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Sharonlulu

Sharonlulu

Hatching
Nov 10, 2015
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Hi,

I have 5 20 week old chickens and 3 of them started laying within the last 2 weeks. i understand that once the days get shorter they need more light to help in laying. My question is: when is the best time to set the timer so that they will lay well and not have our rooster (who was a surprise) crow at all hours of the morning and disturb our neighbors?

Thanks in advance for the help
 
first winter laying there's no light required, second winter they stop laying to molt and lights can either stop the molt, or get they laying again sooner, so no extra light needed on your first year.
 
Sometimes first year layers will lay all winter (but maybe less) without supplemental lighting, sometimes they won't.
Older layers need 14-16 hours of light to lay regularly thru winter.
Best to start ramping up lighting in September, drastic sudden changes can have undesirable effects.
Here's a pretty good article on supplemental lighting.

No way to stop a cock from crowing other than eating him.
 
Mine have always layed all winter their first year, I've never used lights, sometimes they slow down if we get a cold spell, those -40 weeks, the biggest problem can be frozen cracked eggs.
 

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