Artificial light in the chicken coop

I have a set of lights in my coop not for eggs but I want to spend time with my chickens I got them first and formost as pets and have built a bond with them and when I work I dont get off till 5:30pm and during the winter months its dark when I get home and before work I dont have time to spend with them plus my chickens like to hang out till way after dark forging and eating with the porch lights. I dont see no harm in it and my birds seem to be very happy and tonight they put them selfs away at 7:30pm the lights dont go off till 9. the light I use I got from lows in there garden section there basicaly 12 christmas lights with bamboo around them its very soft lighting.
 
Thanks so much! I think I will try leaving on my porch lights tonight for a little while and see if they stay up a little longer. Right now they are going to bed around 5:30!
 
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That is a really good idea! Thanks so much for the quick response! Is daylight good enough, even if it isn't direct sunlight? And which is more important, light or dry ground?
I think the main discussion about the amount of "light" in the coop is in regards to egg laying. Hens lay best when given 14 hours of light. In the winter months the daylight hours are shorter so people will have a light on in the coop to make up for it. Some use timers that come on in the morning before dawn, I used to leave a light on in the coop for a couple hours before I went to bed. I suppose there are pros and cons to each.This fall I have decided to just let the girls have time off from laying. Alot of them are molting anyway (and typically will not lay eggs while they are in the process of growing new feathers for the winter)

"Sunlight" in the run can help dry out the ground and droppings and keep things more sanitary. Moving a small run and coop to new locations can be one option to maintaining healthy living conditions, or adding sand or other materials, leaves, straw etc, or scraping hoeing or raking out if things get mucky. In the winter I am more apt to use some straw in the yard, But of course everything always depends on your set up, and common sense (putting your coop and run in an area that slopes slightly to enable rain or melting snow to run off and away from your run area, more sun in winter for warmth, shade in summer to keep cool) If you have a small run and alot of chickens you have to spend alittle more effort maintaining healthy living conditions.

Here's a handy winter link for some other tips
http://smallfarm.about.com/od/chickens/tp/Top-10-Tips-For-Keeping-Chickens-In-Winter.htm
 
Just so happens and not on purpose I built My pen and hen house 15 yards from our street light we have on our property. Has an amber light. Plus I have RIR's which are very good winter layers. They are healthy, lay all year long and love life. Putting a light in there coop to me is a no no. The amber light has no ill affects to there sleeping and waking. As a matter of fact, I know exactly when they are going to roost. They are all in, for the most part, before the street light even comes on.

I think the street light helps, but I really think as somebody said here the breed. RIR's are just very good layers in the winter. That's why I love them. They lay all year long.
 
Not necessarily...anyone's run can be wet during the rainy months and in the winter time. Wet combined with packed and barren soils is unsanitary. The manure doesn't have any way of being cleansed from the soils or out of the run and just lies there attracting bacteria and flies while being a great place for cycling parasite ovum.
 
This is an old thread. I've learned a lot since my first post on here. I sure had some things wrong then.

A wet run is unsanitary. When the weather sets in wet there is usually not a lot you can do about it unless you have a very small run. Here is a great article on handling wet runs.

Pat’s Big Ol' Mud Page (fixing muddy runs):
https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=1642-fix-a-muddy-run

Not every chicken always gets sick when you have a wet run. Most generally don't. But it is possible. There is usually a big difference in what can happen and what will happen.

The one I'd suggest you watch for the most is coccidiosis. The protozoa that causes it can really multiply in wet manure. When they eat that wet manure (and they will) the numbers of protozoa in their guts can get out of hand. It does not hurt them at all to have some of those protozoa. They generally work up an immunity to them so it really does not affect them. But with a wet run, things can sometimes get out of hand especially if they have not built up that immunity.

Don't panic or freak out if your run gets wet. Try to keep water out to start with and try to set it up so it will drain when it gets wet. But during wet weather many of us deal with wet runs and our chickens seldom get sick from it.
 

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