Lighting - How important

Good day all
Newbie chicken owner to be.......
Just reading on lighting and how it can affect egg laying later on soooooo......

Does the following light schedule seem right
Day 1-2. 23 hours of light
Day 3 decrease one hour every 2/3 days until ten hours light reached
Hold ten hours light until 19 weeks
Then increase light one hour per week until 15 hours of lighter day
Light should be dim just enuff to read a paper

Does this seem about right

Thanks in advance

Gowander

Are these baby chicks? The only time I've heard of supplemental light is during the winter. You need 14 or 15 hours of light for the hens to lay well after their first winter. Their very first winter most will lay fine without any supplemental light. After their first winter most will go into molt and stop laying. The supplemental light is to get them to start laying faster. However, I have never read anything about baby chicks only getting so much light. Are you using a heat lamp with a red light in it? It should be on 24 hours a day for the first several weeks for babies.

Maybe someone else knows this system you are planning on using. I'm just lost but then I've only had chickens for 4 years.

I have never used supplemental light. Of the pullets I got last spring, they started to lay at 19 weeks. During the winter the 9 pullets laid between 6-8 eggs a day without extra light. I probably won't give them extra light this coming winter as I've got ducklings coming soon. They should lay during the winter so we'll have plenty for us to eat.

Chickens will start to lay when their body is ready to lay. No need to provide light for them until they start. And then only when they stop when normal daylight hours drop in the winter, then you might want to supplement light.

Ditto what's been said. All your chicks need is a heat lamp or source of heat, you don't have to mess with timing the amount of light they get. A lot of people also don't add supplemental lighting for adult hens, preferring to let their bodies take a break in winter as nature intended rather then getting them to pump out eggs continuously. However if egg production is the main, most important reason for having chickens then you can certainly add supplemental lighting to lengthen their day during the winter as mentioned above.

Yup, you are waaaay over thinking it . They just need a heat source now, it doesn't even need to be a light (eco brooder, heat pad, etc). Only time you need to consider supplemental lighting would be winter and as has been said, many people don't even do that. The amount of light a chick is exposed to does not have any bearing on egg laying later one.

Were you planning on keeping them inside in windowless rooms the whole time? The sun might foil your plans.

I wouldn't worry about daylength until your pullets are of laying age for their breed. At that point, gradually increasing their daylength might stimulate them to start laying. An hour a week would be too extreme though...go for a more natural increase. You will want to add the extra time to the beginning of the day. That way sunset will still signal to the flock that it's time to go back into the coop to sleep.

Good stuff
Wow really appreciate all the comments, sometimes just KISS and all is good
Thanks again for the comments appreciate all the insight

I have chicks that are about 3 weeks and some that are about 4 weeks old, when do I need to start turning the heat lamp off at night?

Night is when the chicks need the heat the most. The heat source is to keep the chicks warm. Since night time is when the air temperatures are the coolest, it's the most important time to add heat to your chicks. You can do away with a heat source when the chicks are fully feathered, sometime around 6 weeks old.

they are in a "tote" bin in the basement, do I need to turn the heat lamp off during the day now or wait till they are 6 weeks?