Do hens need light on during the night?

[tnaknight87]

I was wondering if hens need a light in their coop during the night.To provide warmth or just comfort.And do they need a certain amount of light to lay eggs? And also is it ok to feed them whole corn. Thanks,april

 

[chickenlady]

Light all night is not good. Whole corn is ok just as a treat, not all the time. Most people get cracked corn, this is just a treat also.

 

[chickensioux]

I always thought lights on all night would force the hen to lay more. I don't use light because I have hens for pleasure and no other reason. They definately don't "need" it. I give scratch (corn) as a special treat and very limited. Hope this helps
Oh and also they need 18 hours on natural light to lay on a reg. basis which is usually why they slow waaaay down if not stop in the winter.

 

[digitS']

Quote:
You'll need to load up those chickens and move north of Ketchikan to get 18 hours of sunshine, Chickensioux.

Steve

 

[tnaknight87]

Thanks for all your help. I was wondering my boyfriend said they'll choke on the whole corn has that ever happened to anyone?

 

[Schultz]

Definetly not. If you leave the lights on all night they won't get the proper rest that they need. I see that you are in Florida, they will never need a heat source there. I live in Indiana where temps get down past 32 degrees during the winter so I choose to provide them with a radiator style space heater in the coop. It rarely gets below 50 in the coop.

 

[chickensioux]

digitS' :

Quote:
You'll need to load up those chickens and move north of Ketchikan to get 18 hours of sunshine, Chickensioux.

Steve

Oops, right Steve. I guess I mean around 14. Keep me straight....

 

[Mrs MIA]

digitS' :

Quote:
You'll need to load up those chickens and move north of Ketchikan to get 18 hours of sunshine, Chickensioux.

Steve

Bwahahahaha!!!

I'm north of Ketchikan, but right now I have to supplement to get the 14 hours of light. Just a simple 25-40w bulb does it. Now, in the summer time I have to block out the light in their coop, otherwise they'll be up all night chattering like kids on a sleep-over...

 

[digitS']

I have fun thinking about natural light probably because I live far enuf north that I see so little of it during the Winter and so much of it thru the Summer. Two months ago, there was only about 8 hours of daylight - we have already gained more than 90 minutes. That's quite a turn around and it improves my mood, enormously

.

Chickens also respond strongly to light. In their original home, they only lived about as far north as April there in Florida. Some wild chickens actually live south of the equator by a few degrees so the chicken's "biological clock" is set to almost equal daylight and darkness hours.

April, your chickens must be fairly comfortable with the seasonal changes. If they were to cross the Georgia line - everything would change!! No, not really but that's kind of "foreign country" for a chicken

.

By the time they got up to where I am near 49° north latitude, chickens must be saying to themselves, "What the heck!!"

We can't leave them on the roost for 16 hours out of 24 - I just don't see how that can be justified. Any farther north and with less Winter daylight I'd be practically suicidal . . .

. . . and, look I don't even want to think about the Seattle/Puget Sound area

. It has been theorized that the sun is actually above the horizon at times there during the Winter months. It's just that no one has actually seen it

.

Whole corn? I've seen chickens have some trouble forcing it down. I'm not sure if I can say that I've ever seen them choke on it. One additional reason to mill corn is all the muscle work the gizzard has to go thru to grind whole grain. It increases the energy requirements of the critters.

Steve

 

[the Old Rebel]

I could be wrong, but most of the chicken books I've read say that chickens need 16 hours of sunlight to produce an egg. That is why some people put lights in their hen houses, especially during the winter. If I am not mistaken (and I could be), one candlepower is enough to get the job done.

When we first started, we had a 25-watt bulb on a timer that came on at 3:00 am. We got eggs all right, but the good Lord dealt with our heart attitudes and we decided that was unfair and unhealthy for the chickens. So we took the bulb out and just let them do their thing. Now we still get eggs, plenty of them, but not as often and they definitely slow down in the winter.

But just think about it. Here you are, in your bed, in the dark of night and suddenly a light comes on! I guess I'd lay an egg or something too! At least the sun comes up slowly.

As for warmth..... we live in the mountains of North Carolina. We don't supplementally heat unless the temps drop down in the single digits or we have a significant wind-chill factor. We do make special provision for our older birds when the temps drop low. Just like older people, they can't handle temperature changes as well as the younger ones do.

Hope this helps.