Artificial light in the chicken coop

[Roland]

Sorry I don't have any idea about this.Hope some one would help you the best.




led reading light

 

[chesko]

Hey all, this is my first post on the forum here. We are first-time chicken owners, and recently received six juvenile RIR hens. I believe they are getting close to egg-laying age now. My question is: Without providing any artificial light, will the chickens lay any eggs over the winter? I.e., does egg-laying completely stop in fall/winter, or does it merely slow down?

Thanks folks!!
chesko in NJ

 

[cackler]

Chesko as another fairly newbie (I got my first chickens in the Spring of 09 so I've only been through Winter once as a chicken person

) is that I have read that they need to have light to be productive. I think it's around 12 hours of light a day. If you search on this website you'll find that there are folks who think that we shouldn't monkey with artificial light and others that have no problem with it. I kind of felt bad shutting my girls up at 5p when it got dark and letting them out in the morning when it got light around 8 or so without giving them light--------not necessarily for egg production, but just because that's a lot of darkness IMHO. Having said that, I did have a light with a timer so they'd have light in the coop until about 8:30p and then it came on I think around 6:30a. I don't know what it would've done to their egg production without any light in the coop but with light I would venture to guess that it still shut down by about 10% or so...not too big of a deal.

 

[woodmort]

There are threads all over the forum on this topic, some are radically pro or con. IMHO if the birds are being kept in a geographic location where they are receiving less than 12 hrs of light per day for 6 months or longer then they aren't going to either eat or produce eggs at their optimum since when it is dark the chickens pretty much stick to the roost. That being said, I give mine 14-15 hrs of daylight by adding artificial light at both ends of the day from Sept through April. Never had a problem and my birds seem to survive just fine on this regimen. BTW, I start/stop at that time of year so the artificial and real daylight hours overlap making it a gradual transition.

 

[Tomhusker]

I'm fairly new at the chicken thing, but have spent some considerable time running this through my mind and reading threads on this site. I think Woodmort has the right idea and i have set up an automatic timer in my coop to ensure 15 hours of light. I have it set to run from 0500-0800 and then 1630-2000.

 

[chesko]

Thank you cackler, woodmort & Tomhusker!

 

[cleigh9579]

I dont use a light in my big girl coup but have read that a small light may help chicks learn to go in to the coop. I have found that my 5 week olds settle down a lot faster and dont try to escape the dark box when they have a light. My big girls put themselves to bed early, 6pmish and i close them up around 8 or 9pm. They all get let out to the runs around 8am. I may is stall a nightlight to the big girls coop. I am thinking solar light. Like the little lights used for walk ways and gardens.

 

[chesko]

Hey all, Happy New Year! I thought I'd post a follow-up to this thread.

I have learned that the chickens do indeed lay eggs in the winter. I was unclear at first whether production slowed or completely stopped. Our six Rhodys were pullets when we got them in August. Without any intervention on my part, we started getting eggs around Thanksgiving. Three of them are now laying, and I assume the rest may start up soon.

In early December, I decided to install in the coop a "lamp" only to provide a little bit of extra heat, and not for the light itself. The lamp I am talking about is actually a module from an old traffic signal with a red lens, illuminated with a 67-watt bulb. I have it situated in such a way that very, very little light (again, it's red light) is cast into the coop. Most of the light is shaded from the chickens. I often keep it on all day/night when the temperature is consistently below freezing, which it was for a couple weeks this past December. It probably makes little temperature difference overall, but it's at least something.

 

[Aria]

We have four windows in our Barn. NO artificial light. Our Chickens have been laying
a little less in the Colder season. Enough eggs for us. We have enough eggs for our family and a few to sell.

We do have automatic door to the run. Early light...they are scratching, laying, digging, what they please. They can go in and out the run to the Barn. In the Barn we always have water,
food, oyster shells and grit. And we bring treats different times of the day.

At dusk they are in the Barn and the automatic door to the run closes. The important thing:
Chickens are doing well and YOU are satisfied with the egg production. NATURAL LIGHT ONLY.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

Pullets usually lay pretty well their first winter, even without supplemental light. It's usually in the following years as hens that people may notice a decrease in winter laying, when the days are shorter.

Sometimes, you just have to see how it goes with particular chickens. Some lay better in winter than others.