Does wattage matter?

[Amy's Animals]

I have a bulb that replaces a 60 watt bulb. It uses only 13 watts and the color is "natural light". Is that good enough for a 5x7 coop?

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Sounds good to me. What are using it for? To stimulate the birds? For your own maintenance?

 

[Amy's Animals]

Yes, I'm using it to stimulate the birds. I have a timer on it that turns it on at 4 AM and off at 7 AM.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

It doesn't take much. The rule of thumb that comes to mind is that if you can just read a newspaper in there, then it's bright enough for them.

 

[pips&peeps]

They need to be able to see the food and water should they want to eat. They should have 14 hours of light.

Where I am, it is dark at 4 pm, so if it is dark where you are, you are only giving them 12 hours of light. I would set it to have the light on at night until 9 pm.

 

[Amy's Animals]

I said AM not PM.

It is completely dark here at 5:15 PM. I turn the light on at 4 AM until it lights up outside (7 AM). It's bright enough so you can see everything in the house and read, but then I do have good eyesight.

 

[pips&peeps]

That's still not 14 hours of light which was my point.

 

[Amy's Animals]

its close

 

[technodoll]

I have the same with my timer... on at about 4am, off at 8am - it's completely dark here by 4:30pm in the afternoon and will only get worse until Christmas!

So yes my flock only gets about 12 hours of light but so far they're all laying superbly and if they start laying less, that's ok since they need a break - I don't want to wear them out!

 

[becky3086]

You'd be surprised how many chickens don't go by our specific (14 hours) rules anyway.