14 Hours Per Day Of Lighting Question?

[FiveHens]

We just installed a light in our coop two weeks ago and our daily egg count has gone from 1-2 eggs (from four hens) back up to 4/day!!
I have read that it's better to provide additional lighting in the morning, so they'll still know to go to bed at night. They don't need very much lighting; just a little will do.
Our light timer clicks on at 5:00 am, stays on until about 8:00, when it's good and light.

Good luck!

 

[empireman]

re: coop lighting.

I just built an urban coop here in Los Angeles. After doing tons of research - I ended up finding Dan who specializes in coop lighting for COMMERCIAL chicken farmers. After discussing the problem of lighting for a back yard coop, he has now offering a very reasonable lighting system which emulates sunlight for about $50.00. You simply put it on a timer ( about $10.00 at Home Depot) and set it to go off about 5am to 9am and again at 4PM until 8Pm. These light will last YEARS and only cost PENNIES to run. I'm so excited that I will now have eggs 12 months out of the year! I am enclosing his contact information and feel free to tell him you read this review on Backyardchickens.com. This is a really good guy who is all about saving the planet and anything GREEN! I am in no way affiliated with this company and am sharing this information because this is a great connection!

Good luck!
Prentice

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

 

[Yay Chicks!]

Ridgerunner - very informative and well written post. Thank you.

 

[Twin Willows]

Here is a little of our family history, I recently went out to my parent's old chicken house (which is now used for storage), and there is a comercial timer wired right into the electrical panel. That's been there at least 60 years because they had 500 layers in the 1940's, 50's and early '60's.

 

[woodmort]

Quote:

The old becomes new again. Someplace I had a post about the number of older homes, even in towns/cities that no long allow them, that have old chicken coops in the back yard. It was a time when just about everyone did and, if they had electricity, they lighted them, often 24/7 during the winter months.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

Over the years, we have used light and not used light. We have also had the light on in the morning and evening. The chickens have all done well, no matter what we do. It effects molting and egg laying, but as far as the chickens, they have done fine. So, whatever works for you will work for the chickens.

We have a coop web cam now, so I can see what the chickens do in the evening, when the light is on, but the door is closed. They wander around the coop and can eat later into the evening, which I think is good on the really cold nights. It's dimmer indoors than it is during the day and they can see that it's dark outside. It's like a cozy evening in your living room, where the lights aren't really bright and you know it's night out. They normally settle down and go to roost before the light goes off.

I like having the light timer set so that the lights are on when it's most convenient to do your chicken chores. Back when the days were short and we didn't use lights, it was very disturbing to the chickens to have us come in after dark. Even talking to them before we opened the door and being as quiet as possible, some would always hop off the roost.

If you work away from home and work normal office hours around here, you're driving home in the dark on the shortest days. So, when you go into the coop after you get home, it's dark. You need to collect eggs, at the very least. I would also check food and water. Plus, if you want to give scratch before bed, they are already roosting. Anyway, that's just something else to consider.

 

[nuchickontheblock]

Thank you ridgerunner and woodland woman for your helpful posts.

My DH and I are going around about the light issue and when to start adding light. Our coop is very dark when it is closed (no real window space to let in light) and in rainy or snowy weather the chickens will essentially be without any light for the day if they stay inside. In good weather they free range and are out and about, but as the days get shorter and our work schedules seem to get longer the chickens are often already in the coop when we get home to lock them in. I need to get a flashlight to check that everyone's roosting ok.

We bought a 12 hour timer, and were thinking perhaps 6 am to 6pm would be about right. Any suggestions for wattage. The coop is about 3 x 6 for 3 hens.

 

[Irish Luck]

I'm new at chickens since the spring. I have a beautiful, clean coop for my boys and girls with a nice roost and all. All summer long they went into the coop and roosted just as the sun was going down. Now all of a sudden they refuse to go into the coop. It is nice and clean with fresh hay on the floor for warmth. I checked it carefully and there is no evidence that a varmint got in. They are snuggling down in the dirt for the night. During the summer I had a light sensored outside that went on at dusk and it didn't bother them at all. I thought this might be the problem so I turned it off and tonight, some of them roosted on the top of the fence and two remained on the ground. Can someone tell me what the heck is wrong with my Chickens??

 

[Jeremy Parker]

Quote:
Commercial operations always did, most of us are as the title says, "backyard chickens"

I like to minimize my cost and do it as natural as possible!

Funny thing is my girls give me all the eggs I need and I sell enough to keep my feed cost to zero!
My girls also raise some new chicks for me too add to the flock and the roo's i get make good food!
Manure goes on my market garden in cycles, one thing compliments another!

Guess I don't know what I'm doing

 

[empireman]

Re: Lighting

I put a light and timer in my coop and set it to go on 3 hours BEFORE sunrise, and 3 hours BEFORE sundown. I have 13 hens. I have been getting 10 - 12 eggs all winter long. I have a friend who told me out of her 30 hens, she gets less than I do right now. I got my unit from Campbell lighting. They sell the kit on ebay and here on the Backyard chicken website for about $80.00. You won't regret it. It simulates sunrise and cost nothing to run. Good luck! Talk to Dan - here is the information:

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