Artificial light and heat

[Moonowl999]

I live in Maine we have a little over 8 hours of light in winter.should I supplement light in the morning or night? Should I only heat in cold snaps or all the time?

 

[sourland]

I'd suggest added light in the morning so that birds can go to roost naturally in the evening. If you provide heat, do so full time, but I would suggest not providing heat.

 

[3KillerBs]

Light, perhaps. But heat has a lot of drawbacks.

Here are some useful articles for you:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/cold-weather-poultry-housing-and-care.72010/

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/aarts-extreme-weather-spiel.75893/

 

[Alaskan]

I live in Maine we have a little over 8 hours of light in winter.should I supplement light in the morning or night? Should I only heat in cold snaps or all the time?

I would add light, especially if you get much colder than 10F. The extra light is more important the colder you get.

If the chickens can't see, they won't eat, and they need to eat to stay warm.

So.... pretty much what it says in my cold weather coop article that @3KillerBs posted.