Winter lighting

[DraigAthar]

I had read that you should add the light hours to the morning so that the chickens don't get suddenly caught in the dark when the light switches off before they settle on the roost. So we tried this, and had the light coming on at 4:30am. Well, the chickens started making the biggest fuss in the morning, cackling away like they were having a party out there. They woke us up a few mornings this way and that was enough. Now the light comes on at 6am when I get up for work. It shuts off after the sun is well up, and then comes back on in the evening for a few hours, too. They don't have any problem with getting caught in the dark before being settled in. Once the sun goes down, they all retire inside the coop anyway and fuss around on the roost until the light turns off. Works great now!

Amy

 

[Linn Bee]

I had the same concern with evening lights. What I have done is run two lights on timers. One is the 'extend daylight hours' light that shuts off at 8:00. The other is a red light that comes on 15 minutes before until 15 minutes after lights out at 8.

Figured they could see their way and know night was soon coming with the red light. From what I've been reading, that's pure over-kill as well as the added expense of another timer running, but that's my solution.

Love, Linn B (aka Smart Red) Gardening zone 5a - 4b in south-est, central-est Wisconsin

 

[h8snags]

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This was my fear as well, not sure the neighbors want to be woken up to the chickens party at 4 in the morning! LOL! I'm glad to hear they go to their roost anyway, then go to sleep once the light shuts off. Think I'll give this a shot! Thanks for your imput!

Melanie

 

[h8snags]

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I think I do alot of over-kill with my girls too! LOL! I just love them so much!!! Thanks for your imput!!!

 

[h8snags]

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Great idea with the cage around the bulb! Thanks!!

 

[h8snags]

Hmm.. Well that was interesting! Yesterday I put a light in their coop. Last night I turned it on at 5 (the girls go to bed at 5:15). Well, I went to check on them an hour later, and only two were on the roost! the others were hanging out in the nesting boxes! So I kicked them out of the boxes, and walked away, thinking they would get it and go to sleep. Then at 7 I went back out there, and they were in the boxes again!

So, again I kicked them out of the boxes, ran to the other side (where there is a window) to call them up on the roost. They tried to jump on the roost, but it looked like they were asleep mentally, and couldn't figure out how to get up there! One made it up there, but as soon as she did, she was pecked on by Lucy, the boss, until she jumped off. So, I went inside and picked them up and sat them on the roost, then unplugged the light! They went to bed.

So, this morning I plugged in the light at 5:30 am, they were pretty good on being quiet. So, I think I will put another light in the run, and throw some scratch on the ground to keep them busy in the morning, and not turn the lights on at night. Do you think 12 hours of light will be sufficient? Or does it have to be 14 hours?

 

[pottymouthspoultry]

I was told that using a red bulb is a good thing... not a red heat lamp bulb, just a red light... the person said it is more soothing than regular light bulbs. Any thoughts? It's kinda funny... putting a red light in the "hen house"!

 

[johnderosa1]

I've been reading through this string and would like to add a few observations. I too read that having the lights turn off abruptly at night could cause confusion so I went with am only lights. My 14 mos old daughter didn't appreciate that too much as the roosters began making quite a racket at 4:30am and began waking her up.... needless to say that had to end quickly. The birds also seemed to get a little bored being cooped up for all that time in the morning and started pecking some feathers. I then added both am and pm light to balance things out. In my opinion this approach is superior to am only lighting for several reasons. First and most importantly it eliminates the crowing at 4:30am. If you don't have roosters this is not as much of a problem however the birds come down off their roosts as soon as the lights come on and having them milling around together on the floor of the coop for too long can definitely lead to boredom and conflict. An extra hour or two in the morning isn't too bad but three or four is probably asking a bit much from them. Another potential problem is that since they begin laying so early in the morning the eggs could freeze before you can get out to collect them if it is really cold overnight. I've noticed that my birds go right to their roosts at dusk even with the pm lighting and seem to settle in well before the timer turns them off. They are never walking around on the floor of the coop when I go in to close the door for the night so I don't think the abrupt darkness is much of a problem. Even so, I was still worried about the lights turning off before my birds were safely on their roosts so I added a second timer that controls a very dim led nightlight. I have it set to stay on an extra hr after the 9 watt CFL goes off. It gives off just enough light to see... kind of late dusk. This works great, the light and timer were cheap and the electricity to run both lights is negligible. The final setup has the lights on 1 1/2 hours before dawn, keeps them on for another hr or so in the morning. They shut off during mid day and then come on an hour before dark ans stay on for another 2 hrs. Finally the LED nightlight comes on a little before the main light goes out and stays on for another 30-60 minutes. This worked great for me last winter and my birds laid well the entire time. One note: if you are going to use pm light make sure you have plenty of roost space and space between perches. The birds will likely spend a lot more time on the roost and with the lights on might pull feathers from their neighbors. The extra space (especially between perches if you have more than 1) will help eliminate some of this.