Compact Fluorescent as good as Incandescent for Egglaying?

[Portalguy]

G'Morning Experts !

As the daylight grows shorter and the days & nights chillier, our chickens get up on the sleeping roost early.

They were hatched this past May and have not laid eggs yet.

My wife has a light in there. To save cost (electricity here is quite expensive along with everything else) she has replaced the incandescent bulb in the coop, with an 'energy saver' CF bulb.

Will CF be as effective, in prolonging the day a bit and encouraging them to start laying?

A pro is that it costs a lot less. A con is that it doesn't make quite as much heat.

Cheers,
Rob in Vermont

PS Speaking of expensive, food prices are skyrocketing. Eggs are up to $4/dozen here, if you can get them. The 'good ole boys' are selling off some of their toys; e.g. the past Summer's ATVs and skidoos. They have signed up for heating assistance.

 

[Ferngully]

If you are only using the light for actual lighting and it is putting out enough lumens it should work.

If you were going to use it to assist in heating, keeping the girls warm this winter then it would be of little assistance.

 

[balticbabe]

We used a CF bulb last year which worked fine until it got so cold that it wouldn't come on.

 

[Ferngully]

At what temp do they not come on anymore?

I am thinking of replacing all of our outdoor lights with cf bulbs. I would hate to have to try and make it to the cars or DH to fumble around in the dark to get to his bike.

 

[Uzuri]

Look for outdoor CFLs.

Our cheap bulbs that we have in the garage start getting fussy around 45 degrees, believe it or not (they still come on, just take a long time to warm up).

If you're looking for something long-lived and low-energy you might try LED; but then you definitely won't get any heat out of it. Just light.

Of course, they all go into the same socket anyhow, so use and LED when you just want light and stick an incandescent in when it's cold enough that you don't want the water to freeze

 

[Portalguy]

Thanks, folks. Appreciate the help!

So as to the question about CFs, 'At what temp do they not come on anymore?'... in my experience it depends on what factory in China they came out of, and on what day they were produced. I have an early Polish-made CF outside in my porch lamp, it comes on without fail and has not failed for several years. In extreme cold; 10 to 20 below, it takes a few minutes to reach full luminosity.

Today's China-CFs include many duds; same QC as fireworks apparently. I even had one shatter as I was installing it. Many do not last a full year; in other words, not much longer than an incandescent bulb. Proper disposal of a CF may well consume more energy than was saved by using it in the first place. We may never know; political correctness trumps science.

I'll be using the incandescent! The trick will be to find and stockpile a whole bunch of non-China incandescents for when imports have dried up, CFs have mostly gone into the 'green' landfills and people are kicking themselves for throwing away their old bulbs. (If you think Lincoln read by firelight, I've got a bridge to sell you.)