Does anyone provide supplemental light for laying?

[SycolinWoodsChickens]

We have 20 week old Pekins. Four of the five females are laying. They share space with our chickens. We keep lights on to give the chickens 14-16 hours of light a day.

Is it OK to encourage the ducks to lay year round like the chickens?

BTW, we forgot to supplement light for a week and the ducks stopped laying immediately. Now that the lights are back on I'm getting 2-3 eggs a day from the ducks.

 

[FenDruadin]

Yup, it won't hurt them. My friend does it with her flock, and she gets them to lay all winter long. On the other hand, when mine were coming into full form in late Spring, laying like crazy, hers stopped for several weeks. She was never without eggs long enough to have to (gasp) *buy* eggs (unlike me, who had to buy a couple dozen during the slow winter months), though.

Some folks think letting them follow a natural light cycle is better for their long-term health, and I tend to agree with that in theory (no experience to back it up though), but if your goal is heavy production for a few years and then start with fresh hens, then supplemental lighting is probably a good thing. Good luck!