Decreased daylight time and egg laying for soon to be layers

[PaisleyD]

no fighting ! lol This topic is just really intersting to me and I honestly want to discuss it and together we find truth
I have always felt bad for my ducks out in the dark for 15 hours and I think that this year, I might finally add a little light in there for a couple hours. This thread got me thinking.
It is probably the most natural thing to add the light, that brings them closer to their true natural environment, I now think

 

[Jenbirdee]

Lets not fight please

and ps sorry if i sound cranky I dont mean to its just my kooky personality

 

[aart]

Explain Chickens on the other end of the continent from you then. The ones in alaska can go from 20 hr days to 22 hr nites … no supplementing is done there. just let them be natural.

Actually folks who live in AK often add light, not so much for egg production but to give them enough light for time to eat enough to stay healthy.

 

[PaisleyD]

and ps sorry if i sound cranky I dont mean to its just my kooky personality

mine too lol

 

[SueT]

So I am new to chickens.. My chickens will soon start laying in next couple of weeks. These are some of the shortest daylight days. How will this affect their first production of eggs? Will it change later? Will this screw them up? Should I change anything or let nature take its course ?

Yes it will affect the egg production. There’s a good chance they will wait till spring to start laying. This has been the case for all my pullets who came of age this time of year.
What breed(s) do you have?

 

[Loomischic]

If they haven't already started laying and the days are getting shorter i wouldn't be all that surprised if you don't see your first eggs until next year. I personally just let nature take its course. They'll lay when their little bodies are ready.

so interesting Thank you so much.

 

[Jenbirdee]

Here I found this
How did chickens come to earth?


The wild ancestor of chickens is generally agreed to be a tropical bird still living in the forests of Southeast Asia called the red junglefowl – with other junglefowl species possibly adding to the genetic mix. From these origins, humans have carried chickens around the world over the past two millennia or more.
But what about ducks and geese? I guess because they fly, they didnt need hoomans to take them on travels

----The Anatidae are the biological family of birds that includes ducks, geese and swans. The family has a cosmopolitan distribution, occurring on all the world's continents except Antarctica and on most of the world's islands and island groups.
Sry @Loomischic I hijack ur thread. I just get so excited about new ideas! Now I know I might light my chicken coop but not my duck or my goose house. Thanks for posting your question.

 

[Loomischic]

Yes it will affect the egg production. There’s a good chance they will wait till spring to start laying. This has been the case for all my pullets who came of age this time of year.
What breed(s) do you have?

Good to know ! I won’t be waiting and expecting an egg at any moment.

 

[Apis mellifera]

Explain Chickens on the other end of the continent from you then. The ones in alaska can go from 20 hr days to 22 hr nites … no supplementing is done there. just let them be natural.

Treat your flock anyway you want.

 

[jus10inla]

Actually folks who live in AK often add light, not so much for egg production but to give them enough light for time to eat enough to stay healthy.

Ok. I will agree there as on a caribou hunt the village had lights in coops tho none were laying. Breeds were orloffs, cochins, ameraucana, and looked like australops. we were around fairbanks / yukon river