Anyone not using light to up egg production?

[CountryMom]

I do not see much slow down of production from my flock, but I am pretty far south also. I have not added light and probably won't for the chickens. However, I saw my Bobs stop in September and haven't seen an egg since. My quail house is just about complete and I will be moving their cage in and building more inside shortly. I was thinking of adding light and seeing if I couldn't spark production. I have many people asking for them in my area and am still building my flock. Has anyone who owned quail done this?

 

[greyfields]

Quote:
At your latitude, you absolutely need lights to keep them going through the winter.

The people who get away without lighting are generally living on tropical islands near teh equator.

 

[gritsar]

I don't add light for the reasons speckledhen stated.

 

[Reinbeau]

No light here, but they're new layers - I'm getting 8 to 10 eggs a day from 14 hens. I'm not going to use light, it's nature's way to give them some time off, and I'm fine with that, but these are hobby hens, yes, I do sell the eggs, but I don't really care how many I sell. To those who do I can see the point of lights, but for the hobbyist I couldn't be bothered.

 

[12 Acres]

I'm not supplementing light. It's their rest period anyway and I feel that forcing them to lay puts additional stress on them at an already stressful time of year. They need more energy just to stay warm right now. I get enough eggs from them to keep us fed and to do all the baking I want to do. I see no reason to force them to lay more.

 

[HennysMom]

I do not use any light - just natural light and my girls are still laying 6 eggs a day; I have 6 girls.

 

[seriousbill]

I agree with NYREDS: it's not a moral issue; it's a practical one. For instance, some of us keep heritage breeds and want to see if the birds will thrive under more "natural" or "historical" conditions, whatever word you want to use, and we don't want to stress the birds unnecessarily because we want to see things that might show up when the birds are , say, 3-4 years old, like hardiness, disease-resistance, etc. We're just interested in other things, that's all. If you value egg production more than broodiness, foraging ability, etc, by all means, use lights--nobody's judging anybody. It's just about a different set of goals.

Just wanted to add: Obviously, at some latitudes, lights may be necessary. I understood the thread to be about the discretionary use of lights to increase production.

 

[cajunlizz]

well , we just installed light in both our coops for the simple fact , OUT of close to 100 head in our flock , we were just picking 4 - 5 eggs a day out of 8 and 9 month old hens . UNREAL ... I think this extra light will jump start them into laying . ( they rested ALL SUMMER )

Since we have added the lights , we are now picking a dozen a day , far cry from what we are expecking from this size flock , BUT its a start , and only been using the lights a few days .

 

[SewingDiva]

Quote:
My view is much the same as Ann's; we also have hobby chickens, but only three and so there's no reason for us to sell eggs. In our case, because we have so few chickens, I doubt adding extra light would make any difference in terms of greater egg production vis a vis higher electrical bills.

From what people are saying it really sounds like it depends on how many chickens you have as to whether it's cost effective to have the additional expense of adding supplemental light.

We got our first egg this week from our AUlorp; she's been doing a one day so far with only 9 hours of daylight in MA. We won't be back to 11 hours daylight till Feb 24th.

Phyllis

 

[digitS']

Hours of sunlight, assuming there is some and with a level horizon at my home (48°N), today:

8 hours 25 minutes

Here are some other random examples, for today:
Menominee, Michigan, 45°N

8 hours 52 minutes

Asheville, North Carolina, 35°N

9 hours 50 minutes

New Delhi, India (31°N) is about as far north as wild chickens go from what I've read. Most are well below that down to and south of the equater. 31°N is part of the northern border of Florida. Please tell me I need to move south of there!

10 hours 11 minutes

My coop has an 11 watt lightbulb and I've taken the window out, replacing it with an isulated door. It will be below zero here soon. Will you want me to hurry the birds into a darkened coop 6 months from now when they have 16 hours of sunlight?

Steve