does type or color of light bulb matter to increase light hours

[AbbyDog]

Hi,

I am considering giving my birds an extra couple of hours of light a day (their coop is behind a fence and gets dark quicker) but I need to know if the wavelength/color/wattage of light matters. Can I use a florescent bulb? Is 14 watts ok? What about LEDs? Do people use a timer, and if so, do you start 'daylight' earlier, end it later, or both?

I'd love to hear from others on this.

Thanks!

 

[hennyannie]

I just used a normal light bulb and left it on for a couple extra hours each night.I dont think the type of light it that important. This also gave me a little extra daylight to get the chores done and did seem to help.

 

[Marcymom3]

We have had great luck with a 40 watt regular incandescent bulb (the old timey kind, not the spiral one) on a timer. Ours comes on at 3:30 a.m. and goes off at 7:30 a.m. It comes back on at 5:30 p.m. and off again at 6:30 p.m. We had only one of our 22 week old chickens laying when we put the light in three weeks ago. Now all are laying, and today we got an egg from all of them. YAY!

Good luck.