Battery lights for laying?

[PolarBerry]

My ten hens have gone from giving me 6-8 eggs a day all the way down to ONE at most. And it’s the same hybrid production egg layer. All the others have gone free loader.

They’re 8-9 months old, not molting, no parasites, and had occasional free ranging up until daylight savings when the egg production died. I assume the daylight taper has caused the reduced egg laying but at this rate I’m better off buying grocery store eggs! I locked them up thinking they were laying elsewhere but no... and no sign of them eating eggs either. They do have fake eggs in the nest and no hidden nests in the coop/run. Their coop does have a window as well.

I have: 2 black australorp, 2 blue australorp, 1 Russian orloff, 1 barnevelder, 2 speckled Sussex, and 2 “color pack” aka cream legbar high production mutts. I’d expect these big gals to lay better!

Only one color pack is laying at all. 5 days and 4 eggs.

Feed is a 17% protein layer feed with free choice oyster shell and grit, don’t give scratch. Occasional veggie scraps and mealworms.

Now, I have some battery operated fairy lights (mini LED). Their coop is too far to run power to. Would these provide enough supplemental light to get a few more eggs or am I S.O.L. until spring?

 

[cavemanrich]

My hens went on strike over a month now. Many of them are going thru molt in my case.
This time of year when days shorten drastically the laying takes a vacation. Not sure if those weak LED lights will make a significant difference.
In about 2 or 3 week from now I will relocate my chickens from coop into their winter housing inside Garage Loft. There they will have 12 hours of light on a timer. They usually start to lay some eggs then. It is so so and not great. In spring when they return to coop outdoors, the laying kicks in HEAVY DUTY.
My reason for their winter housing is multi reason.
I do not have to let them out in the morning, and lock them up in early eve. Gets dark before returning from work. As well as dark before leaving to work.
I have heated water dispensers inside Loft. I also just need to check and refill feed and water once per day. That usually is when it is already dark outdoors.
To have success with added light in coop here is the best way.
Provide 12 to 14 hours of light for chickens. Have light come on very early in the morning,,,, like at 4 AM. Have light go off as soon as daylight arrives. When evening arrives, have chickens go to sleep for the night.
This way chickens go to roost with the sundown , their natural advisor.
THE LIGHT YOU PROVIDE NEEDS TO BE BRIGHT ENOUGH SO CHICKENS REACT TO IT AS IF IT IS ALREADY MORNING. They would walk around coop even though it is still dark in their run. They would naturally start to eat.
WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

[Melky]

Most likely wait till spring. You can try it but even if provide supplement lighting they are likely to still have decreased supply till daylight hours. Some suggest a certain amount of wattage may be required like a 12 or 25 watt light bulb or 9 watt LED to provide sufficient lighting for egg production. I’m sure this can vary a little bit. Others suggest a 40 watt for every 100 sq ft of space. Maybe research the wattage and pick something you like. LED many feel work better than incandescent. I personally do not use lighting.

 

[aart]

If those lights are bright enough to read a newspaper(by you, not the birds-haha),
and the timer can be set to consistently provide the extra hours of light needed to supplement your local daylight duration to about 14 hours....then yeah, that could work, might eat up some batteries tho especially if you live where it's really cold which can decrease battery performance.

 

[Acre4Me]

Good luck. If you want eggs then provide light. You should be able to find outdoor rated lighted solutions that are battery (maybe solar) powered. @aart is right, regular battery performance is decreased at lower temps. But, there are battery powered things made for outdoor useage, so you should have some luck in finding options.

We just electrified our coops as it is 2 feet behind our barn that had to get completely re-wired (#homeownershipisexpensive, #micehavesharpteeth, #previousownersoblivious), so we added a single light in the coop, it is on a timer. Seems to be helping get some more eggs. Their production had decreased a bit, but has picked up a little in the last week. Our chickens are similar in age to yours, hatched Feb 28.

Remember that since they stopped laying, their egg “machines” will take a little while to restart, so if you added light today, you will still see a delay in getting eggs.