Artificial light questions.

[Flyboy718]

My barred rocks are 21 weeks old and still no eggs...pretty sure it has to do with not as much daylight. I don't want to push them or do anything that would be harmful to them or stress them...that being said, what, if anything is not so good about providing artificial light?

 

[Flyboy718]

kinda interesting no one has touched this...

 

[Wnunezcruz]

Some say artificial light will make them dependent and if you power goes out the would die.

 

[Chic-n-farmer]

I use a 13 watt CFL bulb in all my coops, all winter long. I have no problems this. You will see people with other opinions. I can only say that I have done this for years.

 

[Chic-n-farmer]

Quote:
I believe what you are referring to is that if the light goes out, before your chickens make it to the roost, they are trapped on the floor, or outside in the dark.

You could use a timer to add the light in the mornings, only, to solve that problem.

 

[Wnunezcruz]

I have heat lamps in with mine. I just any stand the thought of them getting cold. The timer is a great idea. Thanks

 

[CatUT]

I used a 60 watt plant light hooked up to a timer for a couple hours in the morning and a couple hours at night. My chickens had stopped laying and then one went broody and we couldn't seem to shake her out of it. I hooked up the light and in a few days they started laying again and with in a week, things were back to normal. We also had a horrible windstorm about 5 weeks ago. They declared our city a disaster area and called out the national guard to help deal with it. We were without power for about 18 hours. The chickens didn't care. They were just a bit annoyed that we didn't let them out of their coop that day. I don't think the light really adds that much heat to the coop.

 

[Imp]

Quote:
I do the same thing, without any issues.

Flyboy718 wrote:
My barred rocks are 21 weeks old and still no eggs...pretty sure it has to do with not as much daylight. I don't want to push them or do anything that would be harmful to them or stress them...that being said, what, if anything is not so good about providing artificial light?

21 weeks can be a little early for some chickens. It has been often posted that people have waited for 35 weeks or more. I have

A lot of times pullets will lay their first year regardless of light, but it is kind of individual.
Adding light is your choice.

Good luck,

Imp​

 

[Chic-n-farmer]

Quote:
I had a breeder on here, that I met, very obnoxiously tell me that she refuses to use artificially lighting to increase egg production. She said "I'm not going to shorten their life for a few more eggs!!". She said it like only a greedy, lowlife would do such a thing.

She also mentioned that she uses heat lamps to keep their water thawed!

Uh? Say what? Isn't that artificial lighting?

 

[CatUT]

I use a water heater in the winter to keep my chicks' water thawed. I got really tired of frozen water everyday. I'm pretty sure it doesn't heat up the coop.