14 hours of light to lay eggs?

[Ole rooster]

Jody.......how will the clock change affect the daylight hours. You got me on that one.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Commercial operations have determined that if they provide 14 hours of daylight and follow other specific practices, they get the most efficiency out of their laying hens. That 14 hours has become holy script, strongly believed by the faithful as required for chickens to lay eggs. It ain't necessarily so.

I find that most pullets that start laying in late summmer or fall skip the molt the first year and continue laying all winter. It does not get extremely cold here, seldom getting below zero Fahrenheit, so I don't know how they do in really cold climates. Many people see their pullets lay throughout their first winter and think this is the norm for all hens of all ages.

When the days get shorter and nights get longer, mature chickens see that as a signal to molt. Some places near the equator that difference is not very much. Some places never see 14 hours of daylight in the middle of the summer and their chickens lay fine and go through a molt when the days get shorter. Some places far from the equator see tremendous swings of daylight to darkness. Chickens adjust to the differing conditions.

What triggers a chicken to molt will vary with the individual chickens. Mine don't necessarily all start to molt at exactly the same time, but it is usually pretty close.

How much light each day is enough for healthy chickens? There is no set law of nature. They adjust.

Some people add light to keep their chickens laying throughout the winter. Some of us don't and give the chickens the down time to molt and recharge their system. Does that mean that one is more healthy than the other? I'm not convinced that it does. I do think they eventually need some down time since the egg shells can lose color and they do eventually start laying less frequently if they really go a long time without a molt, but it does take a long rime for this to happen.

But the bottom line is that you do not have to add light for healthy chickens. They will adjust.

 

[JodyJo]

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ha....true! It effects me! I work at 5 am...will be going in the dark and coming home in the dark!!

 

[Cindy in PA]

My chickens have always had 14 hours of light, but they also molt every year & have their "down time" while they molt. Who ever said that chickens with 14 hours of light don't molt?? Never saw that in 19 years, but I am no expert.

 

[LizaBlue]

Ridgerunner, thanks for the info! I'm a first time chickener and was wondering what to expect. I've got 7 hens and I'm getting 5-7 eggs a day now, unless I leave them in the coop. All day in the coop? 4 eggs only. My husband just learned that hens are like humans: born with a certain number of undeveloped eggs in their ovaries, and once they're gone, they're gone. If you keep egg production up every winter, you're just shortening the number of days she lays. Not a big deal for most, but for anyone who wants to justify keeping their girls around as long as possible....well...let's just say I'd rather my girls stay out of the stewpot more years than provide for eggs for my skillet this winter!

 

[JodyJo]

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Exactly....well said!

 

[Ridgerunner]

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I checked your latitude and came up with you getting on the longest day of the year of about 15 hours of daylight. So a drop from that to 14 hours is enough to trigger a molt. Interesting.

 

[Tracydr]

Chickens in AZ generally stop laying all summer due to the heat. Therefore, I feel that adding light in the winter won't hurt, they get more than enough down time.
I only have two " production breeds" unless you count Silver Leghorns, which I don't think really count. My two production reds won't lay until spring since they are only six weeks old. Everybody else is a heritage breed, except the EE mutts. So, I'm not worried about them pooping out, either.
I might manage them differently if they were production breeds or if I were in a state with " normal" weather.
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[mrsteiner]

My five girls definately slowed down as the days got shorter. My Ameraucanas stopped laying all together about a month ago. The BO and BAs slowed down to about one egg a week. I've moved them from a tractor/free range set up to an enclosed coop with supplementary light in the morning. I moved them about a week ago, and all three of the brown egg layers laid today! I have 20 other pullets that should be laying any day now. I'm hoping that adding a light will help them get going. I jus ran an extension cord to the coop and plugged in a light bulb on a timer. It comes on about 4 am.

 

[trooper]

I have a small wattage lite that is on a timer.It is yellow and I think about 15 watt.It comes on in the morning about 6 and goes off in the afternoon about 7.This gives them a break and they don't have a bright lite.It also helps to get them into the coop at nite.They seem to be doing fine and my egg production ain't bad.I can't see where it has hurt a thing.