Best time to cut out supplemental light....

[fasschicks]

I am trying to figure out when the best time in late winter/early spring is the right time to cut out supplemental light for my chickens. I have heard that if you cut out the lights drastically during the middle of winter, it will cause your girls to go into a molt. I definitely want to avoid that. I figured over the next 2 months, I would start cutting back the light gradually as the days got longer, but don't want to do it through the spring. What I wasn't sure about is if there is a good time that I can remove the light without triggering a molt? Are there a certain amount of daylight hours I should have before I pull the lights?

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

Fass

 

[BarredBuff]

When you reach about 14 hours of daylight you can cut it off. Usually the first of April in my experience.

Hope this helps!

 

[Eggcessive]

That is a new one for me. I've never heard that suddenly cutting back on light would cause a molt. If you are going to use supplemental light to keep chickens laying in winter, you need 12 hours of light a day. For many, they have a light come on at 5 AM and go off at 5 PM--easy peasy. In summer, chickens will wake up as early as 5:30 Am and it won't be light until 9 PM. So all that is going to change is that they will have more light in the evenings as spring and summer approaches, and they are outside longer.