artificial lights decrease laying life?

[DPC poultry]

as we all know when a hen gets old she quits laying well I was told that artificial lighting will cause the hen to stop laying sooner, is this true? Does this also affect quail?

 

[Robo]

No Daniel it doesn't considering their lifespan, a hen lays best in it's first year of life. They lay very well for their first two breeding seasons. If you give them artificial lighting out of breeding season they lay good for 1 year. They will still lay for another 2 good years. They won't lay as good but they will still lay just fine. It won't dramatically decrease their egg producion, but they will lay about one egg less per week in their second year of laying. Some of mine are almost 2 and I am getting a ton of eggs. They will still lay just a little bit less. It will decrease their laying life, but if you have a coturnix that lives that long it is very rare. Most will live for about 4 years. Even old hens still lay, but not quite as much. Your quail ill lay for a good 3 years with artificial lighting so don't worry.

 

[Buck Creek Chickens]

Quote:
x2, from want I've seen with my birds it an old wives tale

 

[Mahonri]

Lights just speeds up the laying so you get all of the eggs they can lay, quicker.

 

[DPC poultry]

kk thx guys

 

[woodmort]

You've got a double thread going on this so I'll post here what I posted on the other one:

If I remember my biology correctly, every female is born with a predetermined number of ova. This being the case, the longer it takes for her eggs to be shed, the longer she will have them. Therefore if you aren't using lights and your hen lays 1 or 2 eggs per week as opposed to 4 or 5 under lighting, then she will lay longer in terms of the length of time you'll get eggs from her but not in terms of the number of eggs--either way she is eventually going to go dry. The biggest argument for not using light is that the hens need a period of rest and, without it, will develop problems with their egg laying apparatus. I use what I consider a reasonable period of light, always have, and never had a particular problem. Since my hens are not pets but are here to produce eggs, I want them now rather than later, Besides, chickens have a way of dying of various, non-egg laying, causes and I'd just as soon get every egg from each hen that I can before she passes on.