Do chickens need night lights?

[grandmaof5]

Hmmm...this thread has gotten me to think about lights. We're still in the building stage, and we have been thinking about getting power to the coop, but not sure. I don't think we'd need lights, as the coop sits just 12 ' from our door and we leave outside lights on by the door all the time...the door of the coop and the one window we'll have (just a hole in the wall right now) both face our door. DH thinks the ladies might be too cold in our long winters, and wants to have something wired in for a heater...I don't think we'll need that, and keep saying that ventilation is more important than heat, even up here. So...I'm guessing no to lights, but not sure about getting it wired for power... what do those of you who live in the north think?

Pat, you are near, what do you think?

 

[fwschrom]

I have read that lights should be on broilers 24/7 they develop faster.

the books states: Never increase light on growing pullets, and never decrease light on laying hens.

Pullets being brooded between July 1 and Jan 1 don't require additional light. Pullets brooded between Jan 1 and July 1 are on a declining light schedule.

The the book goes into working out the day length when the flock is 22 weeks old adding 5 hours to it and working out a schedule from there.

It seemed way to much work to a simple problem so I simplified it: layers need 16 hours a day light summer or winter.

What I am doing is turning on one 7 watt energy saving bulb at night, and turning it off in the morning. I haven't yet but I am going to set it up on a timer.

The new high effiecency light bulbs put out a lot of light for a lot less watts, and 7 watts for 12 hours is less than 1.5 hours of a conventional 60 watt bulb.

Yes to detering preditors, but don't count on this as a safe guard for properly designed coops, I have had to move our dog and cat food inside as racoons were coming up on the porch and stealing it.

I wired my coop with electricity as winter will come and I must provide some heat, and keep the water from freezing. Those of you in southern ( warmer ) climates could set up a small solar system in leau of installing wiring to your coop ( I would look at using LED lights for this )

I don't think that would do much for folks in northern climes, in winter it's just too cold, and we don't have enough daylight.

 

[speckledhen]

I have a night light a dim night light as opposed to actual lighting because I don't want to artificially push hens to lay when their bodies need a break--have lost too many hens to internal laying and don't want to tempt fate, so to speak. Night lights are fabulous. The 7 watt ones rather than the LED or 4 watt ones give a good bit of light. We can see in there quite well when we have to investigate something after dark.

 

[floridaquilter]

I never considered a night light until I read this post. It would come in handy to check on the birds. I use a flashlight and still fall over yard waterers. My brother uses a light in his henhouse and said the hens will lay more eggs with increased lighting.

 

[Rozzie]

x

 

[fwschrom]

"I grew up in Wisconsin. Power in ALL buildings that housed animals was a wonderful thing to have. We used heated waterers for EVERY kind of animal, even in the 1970s. Otherwise, you'll be hauling warm water out several times a day, and dealing with frozen waterers all the time. That is NOT fun."

I second that, power is a must.

I just went out and checked my chic's lights sure makes it easy, I could not imagine winter and no power in the barn.

I was thinking today about before electricity, pioneer times. I really have respect for those folks, keeping livestock alive then must have just been miserable.

 

[woodmort]

Quote:
I don't know as using lights to keep a fairly constant amount of "daylight" would cause a problem. I sure wouldn't want them to be on 24/7 but use them to give them a constant 14-16 hrs of light per day should be okay.

 

[Mark and Carolyn]

I have had night lights going sense they were first introduced to the coop. We have 4 ISA brown hens and have had no problems with using night lights. I started them on a timer and the light would stay on all night, but the last month or so I have cut them back quite a bit. the light (very low wattage) comes on at 9:30 PM and goes off at 3:30 AM. The girls don't seem to mind. when the light comes on they know its time to get in the coop. and most of the time they are in there before it comes on. I thought that the light would keep the coons away, this may be the case but seems my coons are not to serious about getting in there. I have seen as many as 4 of them around the coop at night. Its pretty secure so We are not to worried. We do however have many solar lights all around the coop and run. I think this may help detour the coons. This winter I will be using a heat lamp either red or white. not sure on that however.

 

[IonaFarm]

Good topic and discussion, but my husband usually asks:

What did our gr-grandparents do on their farms? I know it was years before they had electricity in the house.

My grandmother's barn and chicken coop didn't have electricity.

All the animals did fine back then. And the food was great that they got from raising them.

Like most of you I get concerned about them getting too hot or cold. I want a motion detector light put out there.

 

[atimme]

Nightlights are a good idea for extending the day period to encourage them to lay during the winter. I kept them on for a set 14 hour period.