Winter coop lighting, what do you use?

[Saltcreek]

Quote:
Fluorescent bulbs including the twisted Compact designs contain small amounts of mercury, your husband is correct. I haven't had a flourescent bulb shatter in the cold in our area, they are commonly used in outdoor signs but our temperature rarely drops below 15-20 degrees F.

Read the box for the bulb you buy. My 60 watt Sylvania Instant-On Daylight twisty bulb is rated for use down to 0F degrees, but only uses 13 actual watts. However, I have switched to a 40 Watt LED bulb that uses only 7 actual watts and is not temperature affected and will have a 12 year life. The LED is not a daylight color, but egg production has stayed up so it's working

 

[big greg barker]

Quote:
Oooo, this would be interesting to know as well. I have one of those twisty bulbs in my coop and two of my three girls have stopped laying. For the life of me, I can't figure out why. It's very frustrating. If they don't lay in blue spectrum lighting this may be the reason. Although it wouldn't explain why by BA is still laying. Interesting....

I was in a commercial egg operation a few years ago, and they were lighted with flourescent tubes. I think as long as they are getting 14 hours of light a day, the eggs will come..

 

[Moabite]

Quote:
Ever put your ear to the coop door and hear "Stayin' Alive" being clucked???

Nothin funnier than disco chickens...

Sometimes I hear sumthin but as soon as I look they are all standing there with their wings folded, whistling. I did see some dust settling the other night however, but they look so innocent.

 

[jwadsworth]

get a jelly jar type light figt fixture that would protect the bulb from being broke.

 

[Nicole01]

A halogen light bulb. I'm not sure of the wattage. We have no windows in our coop, so it's on all day everyday. Our coop is inside our garage, we did not want to cut through the house. They do not need it since they spend all their time outside roaming.

During the winter, we heat the coop and cover the run, so they have access all winter long.

 

[empireman]

Contact Dan at this company and tell him Prentice in Los Angeles told you about him. He set me up with a lighting system VERY CHEAP for my coop and my girls lay the same all year round. He should start posting on ebay soon now that the time is about to change, but you can get the setup direct from him. Good Luck!


Campbell Lighting Company
Pearcy, AR
tel. 501-767-0840
fax. 501-767-1234
email. [email protected]

 

[Bukbuk Betty]

I use a cfl 13 watt daylight bulb, they seem to lay just fine but as its winter here (northern alberta) theyre indoors most if the time and a couple of them have been really pecky. Im wondering if lower/different spectrum light would help them chill out and quit being bullies?

 

[shelldero]

I have a related question as a newbie chicken rancher....We have a small hen house with no pop door. My 5 ladies generally go into their secured run upon awakening. We have put some cool white christmas lights inside that go off around 0430. I've found them going outside in the dark and lying down to rest again on the ground. Is my lighting even doing any good, or should I be forcing them to stay inside the house with the lighting until the sun comes up??

 

[RonP]

I posted this on another query, this is how I do it, works extremely well, hope it helps:

There are a lot of opinions on supplementing light to keep the chickens laying during time period where there is less than 12-14 hours of available daylight.

My coop gets 16 hours of light 351 days per year.

I turn lights off for 14 days to have birds go into a controlled moult late September .

Having had to install electricity for the thermostatically controlled water heater, I took advantage and installed a lighting system.

My system has two timers. The first is set to turn the lights on at 5:30am, off at 9pm.

Power goes on, passes through a photocell, then to a 300 lumen LED bulb, 4.8 watts, in the coop, and 2 4.8 watt LEDs for the outside run.

I light the run because I found the birds huddled outside the coop door in the dark one 5:30am morning...
They have access to the run 24/7, as it is as secure as the coop.

The lights are on only when it is dark enough outside to be necessary.
The time on very closely mimics my Summer Solstice in NJ.

The second timer is set to go on at 8:30pm, off at 9:30pm, a diffused 200 lumen LED 4 watt bulb.
This low light allows the birds to settle in before all lights out and 8 hours of darkness.

This system costs less than $5 per year to operate..

 

[Whiskersvtwin]

Found some great info on lighting the coop for cold season egg laying.

http://www.henclass.com/light/