Do I need light in coop with less daylight

[wac]

My pullets are starting to lay they are 5 months old. Now that the days are getting short should I add more light to help keep them laying this fall and winter? If so how much do they need? Thanks for you input

 

[madamwlf]

I don't add light. If the ladies wish to take a little time off, I feel they deserve it. But most of my girls layed all through last winter with no extra light.

 

[jmarshall]

Farmer friends of ours have a 10 year old daughter in charge of the chickens, and she does very well with her egg business. They just started the timer on their light for 5:30 a.m.; they swear by it.

 

[DebbieDee]

I have heard extra light is not necessary. Some folks swear by it. I guess it depends on where you live and what breeds you have. I would not want to confuse my chickens. They seemed to be doing just fine....

 

[Jeffross1968]

If I had older girls that have been laying all year, I wouldn't even consider it. However, I have 4 girls that are just now coming into laying, and I've heard that they might all just hold off until spring. I could really use their eggs...not sure what I'm going to do, so will watch this thread with interest...

 

[crosbygroup]

Quote:
I agree with you! I have been adding extra light in the morning all year long and it did not help. Now, I can't stop because I don't want to shock the girls. My neighbor has the same type chickens and has better egg production and less molt and she does not use any extra light.

 

[TigerLilly]

I dont give extra light, either. I prefer to keep the lighting situation as close to normal as possible. I didn't have a noticeable difference in a lack of eggs last year.

 

[Judy]

They lay best if light is added to keep their day 14 hours long. But there are a number of factors besides light that affect production. Read here:

http://www.albc-usa.org/documents/ALBCchicken_assessment-2.pdf

 

[vclark321]

I am glad you asked, because I was wondering the same thing. After reading the posts here I think I am going to skip the extra light and keep them on natures schedule. Lots of good information here. Thank you smart chicken people!

 

[busyteacher]

We have a light on a timer for our girls inside our coop. It comes on about 7 PM (so that they come in) and goes off around 9 PM. We keep it on long enough so that when we go out there to close them up we have some light to see where everything is. We've stepped on a few eggs before. The light then comes back on around 6:00 AM so, again, my husband can see when he lets them out. It stays on until about 7 AM. Doesn't seem to bother them any and it's really more of a help and convenience for us so that we can see what we are doing. They will also come in earlier than normal if the light is on.