Red heat bulb - am I messing with their sleep?

[thisoldcoop]

I have 12 hens in a nice little coop and live in Ontario where the temps get well below freezing. I use a single heat bulb in a receptacle from the ceiling as their heat source in cold months and leave it on all the time. Is this soft red glow messing with their "circadian rhythm?" They need the heat source. (I use a heated water bucket so their water doesn't freeze). I did this last winter but I only had three hens at the time and they were barely laying through the winter. I had one of those "cozy coop" radiant heat sources years ago( which is a wall mounted black thing that looks like a small tv screen)but it wasn't enough and it died after just one winter. Any thoughts?

 

[21hens-incharge]

Short answer is yes. It is enough to keep them awake all night and cause behavioral issues.

 

[kengboss21]

remove the bulb, serves no use + they dont need the heat. As for laying, its total light hours that affects it so install a timer LED if u want eggs throughout the winter. But they definitely need 8 hours of pure darkness (or as dark as u can get it in the coop).

 

[Stephine]

The non stop light is not good, but if you feel you need the heat, there are ceramic heat emitters that have a base like a regular light bulb and screw into a regular base, but give off only heat, no light. Make sure you get one that has no Teflon coating. Those are mostly used for reptiles and will do the trick in the coop.