Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

[chippysmom327]

Day 21 at my house...

 

[stake]

This is a bit early, but I'm wondering what everyone's personal philosophy on winter lighting is. Do you do it or not and why?

Mike:

Was thinking about that myself....I have a couple of GLWs that should lay through the winter....I don't have any power run so if I do its by extension cord....I was more thinking about using my brooder light to warm the coop up on extreme nights...still pondering myself....

 

[LittleMissPurdy]

** As this is my first winter with chickens I am not an experienced "chickenier", but I will not be supplementing light.
I think the more 'natural' the situation the better. All things tend to slow, even we do in the colder weather, so it just seems natural to let them follow the order of things...Just my theory...not a expert..
And being this is my first year...would like to keep it simple for a bit.

 

[Farmer Mike S]

** As this is my first winter with chickens I am not an experienced "chickenier", but I will not be supplementing light.
I think the more 'natural' the situation the better. All things tend to slow, even we do in the colder weather, so it just seems natural to let them follow the order of things...Just my theory...not a expert..
And being this is my first year...would like to keep it simple for a bit.

Yea I was thinking that too, that it's natural for them to stop laying over the winter so it's part of the reason why I'm debating this

Mike:

Was thinking about that myself....I have a couple of GLWs that should lay through the winter....I don't have any power run so if I do its by extension cord....I was more thinking about using my brooder light to warm the coop up on extreme nights...still pondering myself....

I would have to run a cord too. Again, I'm debating this because it's not "natural". I heard it hurts the long term health of the chicken but idk

 

[rdilbarova]

I'm gonna appoligize if I'm repeating myself, haven't had enough coffee to keep threads straight...Well we picked up some more Seramas the other day. We now have (including the ones from before) Frodo the Frizzle, Gandalf, Galadriel, Rosie Cotton, Goldberry, Gimli, Legolas, Aragorn, Esmeralda Took, and Arwen. We should be adding Éowyn and her chicks in a few days, gotta wait for the eggs to hatch. I think I created a monster when I told Gavin he could name the Seramas anything he wanted, now they all need to be Tolkien based...

Here are some pics of the newest additions:
Aragorn
Arwen (bottom) and Esmeralda (top)
Legolas (top) and Gimli (bottom)

The brooding room is now the Serama room...so I guess now I "have" to set up a brooding coop and run lol.

Beautiful!

Ziggy....

LOL I would LOVE to wake up to a random steer in my yard.

 

[rdilbarova]

Oh and ps. Serious question- what do you guys think about a chicken field trip? I was just at my grandma's to mow her lawn and her grass gets huge and filled with crickets, hoppers, slugs, spiders, etc etc etc. I think the girls would get a kick out of it, and it is a short car ride, but how much do you think that would stress them out?

 

[LisaYolkUm]

I do not plan on using any lights.

I only have 4 birds, this is my first winter, and I would have to run a cord.....

I want to keep it real...........as in the way the birds are designed to work........and

keep it simple for myself too.

so that is my plan.

I do have several windows that I am winterizing with clear plastic etc. so that whatever natural light there is.......they have access too.

There may be very cold days they don't go out as much..........so I wan their coop to have daylight from windows without drafts or dampness.

 

[PAJerry]

I've used lights for many years now. It is set to come on at 3:00am, and I learned from an 'old timer' that a red or pink light will make for calmer chickens than any white light, and my experience has held that to be true. I use a 13 watt red compact florescent in a 6 x 9 coop but will go to a lower watt red led when it burns out. You really don't need a lot of light to keep production up, just try for 14 hours of total light. As far as supplemental heating, I've never used it and it gets pretty cold and snowy here in the Lake Erie snow belt.

 

[Blarneyeggs]

This is a bit early, but I'm wondering what everyone's personal philosophy on winter lighting is. Do you do it or not and why?

Hey neighbor! I do not use lights. My reasoning is - I do not count on my eggs for income, so, I figure that giving the hens a rest during shorter light days so they can spend more time foraging is what works for me. Do I complain come holiday time and I'm getting 2 eggs per day? Heck yes! But it gives me a reason to patronize other farms in the area.

Like Stake I am counting on those Wyandottes to get me through winter.

Cskotek, as always great pics! Sorry to hear you over did it. I feel like this old body just does NOT want to do everything I want it to.

ChippysMom! Everything ok? I assume that frowns face means ya got nothing hatching? Sorry.

 

[chippysmom327]

Hey neighbor! I do not use lights. My reasoning is - I do not count on my eggs for income, so, I figure that giving the hens a rest during shorter light days so they can spend more time foraging is what works for me. Do I complain come holiday time and I'm getting 2 eggs per day? Heck yes! But it gives me a reason to patronize other farms in the area.

Like Stake I am counting on those Wyandottes to get me through winter.

Cskotek, as always great pics! Sorry to hear you over did it. I feel like this old body just does NOT want to do everything I want it to.

ChippysMom! Everything ok? I assume that frowns face means ya got nothing hatching? Sorry.

Nothing yet, and we're 9 hours in. No pipping, zipping, rocking, or peeping. Pretty disappointing day 21. :/