6 wks old and ready for coop???

[gritsar]

Heat lamps have been the cause of many a coop fire. So please make sure it is very secure and only use it when and if it's necessary. Your birds look plenty old enough to deal with the weather. I'm sure they'll be fine.

 

[whatsup chickenbutt]

Gritsar,
what is your opinion on the type of lighting in a coop? Would a 75 or 100 watt regular bulb have any effect on the comfort of the birds? Im looking to add light to my coop with three laying hens to keep them laying but that also would keep my fully feathered 6.5 week babies comfortable.

 

[gritsar]

My opinion is that a 75 or 100 watt bulb would provide enough light to encourage the hens to keep laying, but unless you have a really small coop it's not going to add alot in the way of heat. If the 6 1/2 week olds are fully feathered they shouldn't need heat. They'll have the heat from each other and the older hens to do that. If you have them under heat lamps now it's probably a good idea to wean them off the heat slowly rather than shock them with going from toasty warm to cold overnight.
My situation is that my coop has two very large windows (openings in the wood covered by hardware cloth), both 4 ft. tall and one is 8 ft. long, the other about 4 - 5 ft. long. I don't even close the shutters on these windows unless it gets below 40 at night. I don't add light.
As for additional light, there are two camps on this. You can add light and chances are your hens will continue to lay, but over the lifetime of that hen you're not going to get any more eggs than if you didn't add light. Hens only have so many eggs to lay in their lifetime. Add light - more eggs but for a shorter period of time before the hen quits laying altogether. Don't add light - less eggs thru the winter months, but a hen that lays longer in her lifetime. The choice is up to you. Personally I think they need that wintertime break. Laying eggs is hard work.
If you want to add heat without adding additional light, then find the red heat bulbs or the ceramic heating elements similiar to the ones sold for reptiles. The red light is not percieved by the chickens to be daylight the way a white light is.

 

[whatsup chickenbutt]

Thanks!