Added a light to the coop...how soon will we see eggs?

[DawnB]

Hi all...

I'm fairly new here. I adopted an established flock that was pretty beat up. They were in a small, confined coop and pen and many of the girls (and even the roos) were plucked over pretty well.

I got them in Sept. They laid for a while and then tapered off (due to the daylight shrinking, normal molt and we were still building their coop). I got them a better diet of food, kitchen scraps and treats and they are starting to feather out nicely. They are settling in nicely.

We just added a light to our coop over the weekend. Was wondering how long it will take before we start seeing egg production?


Thanks!


Dawn

 

[Y N dottes]

molting is a long proccess, so depending on when they started to molt, it might take them a couple months untill they finish and can start laying again.

 

[donrae]

I've heard it takes 2 weeks for artificial lighting to make a difference in their bodies. I don't light though, so don't know how long it might take combined with a molt.........my birds just take the winter off and let the young pullets do the laying for the winter.

 

[darin367]

mine took about 3-4 weeks before laying after adding light... i was almost to the point of not believing it worked........ but it does...... i do shut my light down dec. 1st, and light it back up jan. 1st...... this gives the girls 11/2-2 months of rest.. i figure they deserve a break....... good luck...

 

[DawnB]

Well, I can't exactly say when (or if) they started to molt. They came to us a couple of months ago so plucked over from being in a too-small enclosure that I'm not sure if it's truly a molt or just them finally growing out their feathers. There are plenty of stray feathers around the coop and pen (but they aren't picking on one another...I've been watching

).

I'm guessing it's a combo of both. They had been laying when we got them but tapered off as the days got shorter. I'm sure the stress (and believe me, it was an ugly move for those poor birds) of moving didn't help. But, after 2 days with the light, we got an egg...AN egg. Haven't seen anything since. But, I'm hoping!

They did get a bit of a break. We were still building the coop when they showed up. We've been without eggs since the 1st week of October, so I don't feel bad lighting up the morning.

Here's the hen I dubbed Godiva when we first got them...she was SO naked! She's also one of the smallest (and I'm assuming lowest on the totem pole)....but she's finally starting to get feathers. She's starting to get that scrub brush look!