Australorps breed Thread

[Gramma Chick]

I let my 5 hens out to feed today after the storms passed here in Ga. I put my dogs up in a pen then let my hens out. Looked back outside and a dog killed one of my Domqu. But my BA's were ok. The other Domqu didn't come back in the yard for about 2 hrs. I thought it was gone too. I hate it those 2 hens were old and had not laid in about 2 yrs. but the boys pawpaw gave them to us. And they really loved them.

So Sorry .. Did the dog get out ? or the hen get in ? .
Dogs some cant be trained ..
Can you get a new hen / pullet for the child in the spring ?in the spring ?

 

[Gramma Chick]

I Hope everyone had a Great Day Yesterday ...Im enjoying not having any snow here in NEw York State

 

[hellbender]

I Hope everyone had a Great Day Yesterday ...Im enjoying not having any snow here in NEw York State

Yes indeed...we enjoyed a lovely gray & brown Christmas. I wouldn't care if it never snows again!

 

[bruceha2000]

The Daylight bulbs are best--more yellow than blue.

Look for that type of LED light.

Daylight is 5,000 to 6,500 Kelvin, the lower end is more white, the higher is the blue range. The sickly (my personal opinion

) yellow is "soft white - 2,700 to 3,000 Kelvin. 5,000K looks like the full moon on a dark night. Perfect for outside lighting.

I won't buy anything but LEDs and nothing < 3,000K and wish more LEDs were made in the 4K (cool white) range.

But if your statement "more yellow than blue" is accurate for "laying light" then 2,700 would probably be better than "daylight". I have to think that the closer it is to natural daylight Kelvin, the better it would be for convincing the chickens the days are longer and they should be laying.

 

[ronott1]

Daylight is 5,000 to 6,500 Kelvin, the lower end is more white, the higher is the blue range. The sickly (my personal opinion

) yellow is "soft white - 2,700 to 3,000 Kelvin. 5,000K looks like the full moon on a dark night. Perfect for outside lighting.

I won't buy anything but LEDs and nothing < 3,000K and wish more LEDs were made in the 4K (cool white) range.

But if your statement "more yellow than blue" is accurate for "laying light" then 2,700 would probably be better than "daylight". I have to think that the closer it is to natural daylight Kelvin, the better it would be for convincing the chickens the days are longer and they should be laying.

Your numbers look good. This is from a poultry study:

 

[bruceha2000]

I scrounged around some and found https://www.onceinnovations.com/wp/...0/Science-of-Poultry-Vision-Single-Pages1.pdf

Obviously they are selling you on their special light bulbs but it is interesting to see the differences in wavelengths that we see and what chickens see. As your chart showed, blue and red are important to chickens WAY more than they are to us.

As a short summary, I think it says ... If you don't want to buy their bulb for your layers, use an incandescent because it has the most of the red wavelength at 630ish that chickens key in on. Second would be a "residential LED" which I guess means 2,700 Kelvin, 2,400K if you can find it. Third would be a "cool white" LED and don't even bother with a CFL, they have basically ZERO 630ish wavelength.

OR buy their Layer specific AgriShift LED - $22.50 on their site. At 100% they have a goodly amount of the blue, green and red wavelengths that chickens key in on (and other than the green that WE don't even see). They have a "dim to blue" for faster growing (meat and layer pullets) and a "dim to red" for layers. The "killer" is the $600 LED master dimmer for the ultimate control of gradual sunrise and sunset. I PRESUME one could use an LED dimmer (no you can't use just any old dimmer) set to some % of "Full on" to go on and off at the times you now have your current light running. Not as smooth or natural as gradual increase/decrease but a WHOLE lot more affordable for the non commercial chicken raiser. And I suppose if you wanted to go a "mid range" cost, you could get 3 lights and dimmers set to go on at appropriate times and percentages. If you phased them you could have one at 10% for say 1/2 hour in the morning, then add in one at 20% that goes on 1/2 hour later for 1/2 hour (total 30%) and a third that goes on 1/2 hour after that at 50% for 80% light and run that until actual sunrise happens. Then reverse it for sunset starting around actual sunset.

 

[ronott1]

I scrounged around some and found https://www.onceinnovations.com/wp/...0/Science-of-Poultry-Vision-Single-Pages1.pdf

Obviously they are selling you on their special light bulbs but it is interesting to see the differences in wavelengths that we see and what chickens see. As your chart showed, blue and red are important to chickens WAY more than they are to us.

As a short summary, I think it says ... If you don't want to buy their bulb for your layers, use an incandescent because it has the most of the red wavelength at 630ish that chickens key in on. Second would be a "residential LED" which I guess means 2,700 Kelvin, 2,400K if you can find it. Third would be a "cool white" LED and don't even bother with a CFL, they have basically ZERO 630ish wavelength.

OR buy their Layer specific AgriShift LED - $22.50 on their site. At 100% they have a goodly amount of the blue, green and red wavelengths that chickens key in on (and other than the green that WE don't even see). They have a "dim to blue" for faster growing (meat and layer pullets) and a "dim to red" for layers. The "killer" is the $600 LED master dimmer for the ultimate control of gradual sunrise and sunset. I PRESUME one could use an LED dimmer (no you can't use just any old dimmer) set to some % of "Full on" to go on and off at the times you now have your current light running. Not as smooth or natural as gradual increase/decrease but a WHOLE lot more affordable for the non commercial chicken raiser. And I suppose if you wanted to go a "mid range" cost, you could get 3 lights and dimmers set to go on at appropriate times and percentages. If you phased them you could have one at 10% for say 1/2 hour in the morning, then add in one at 20% that goes on 1/2 hour later for 1/2 hour (total 30%) and a third that goes on 1/2 hour after that at 50% for 80% light and run that until actual sunrise happens. Then reverse it for sunset starting around actual sunset.

I buy by bulbs from Costco--look for the kelvin number on them.

What I got from the chart is that there really is not that much difference in the color but that a light in the 2700K range would be best but not that much different.

Ron, who does not recommend expensive lights!

 

[appps]

I like to give my girls a break over winter, figure their bodies have worked hard enough all summer to deserve it and we aren't in an area that we suddenly get a lot shorter day like say Alaska would, so don't supplement the light but agree you can easily buy the daylight bulbs anywhere you buy light bulbs, they aren't really a specialist thing. Colour temp bulbs are very common and nothing fancy aimed at chickens. I tend to buy the daylight temp bulbs for photography reasons so you aren't mixing light colour temperatures in photos. They are never exactly the right kelvin of 5500k, but they are pretty darn close for what I use them for.

However I can't help wondering if more important than the colour temperature is UV light, especially if you are supplementing because your days become drastically shorter. I'm thinking how people can become depressed without enough vitamin D so obviously the body is very attuned to its presence. Perhaps the laying "on switch" is too, and the lack of uv is a trigger to slow down too.
I buy Light bulbs for my hermit crabs which are just like a regular fluro bulb but also give off the Uv A and B waves required to replicate daylight. They are about $25 each and are only good for about 12 months before the uv bit stops working.

 

[Clinton 78]

Daylight is 5,000 to 6,500 Kelvin, the lower end is more white, the higher is the blue range. The sickly (my personal opinion   ) yellow is "soft white - 2,700 to 3,000 Kelvin. 5,000K looks like the full moon on a dark night. Perfect for outside lighting.

I won't buy anything but LEDs and nothing < 3,000K and wish more LEDs were made in the 4K (cool white) range.

But if your statement "more yellow than blue" is accurate for "laying light" then 2,700 would probably be better than "daylight". I have to think that the closer it is to natural daylight Kelvin, the better it would be for convincing the chickens the days are longer and they should be laying.

Here's what I found on the bulbs.

So yes y'all were right soft white light at 5,000K.

 

[RattlesnakeRidgeWV]

My advise is to give them a break and let them molt naturally, which means less eggs. Also, the winter months in at least the mid atlantic states means less eggs due to decrease in daylight or someone is lying to you. Your alternative is to use light and burn them out in two to three years along with other health issues, or simply replace all your stock every two years and you will have plenty of eggs!
Kurt