Extra Light

[jthornton]

Do you have your code posted anywhere, like Github?
(For context, I have been meaning to put my Pi coop monitor code out there, but I haven't cleaned it up to the point where I want to publish it...)

I do have github account but not all the code is on there yet... some of it is. I'm messing around with a 7" touch screen now and that is pretty cool the Raspberry Pi mounts on the back of the screen so it makes a nice clean package.

JT

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

As far as the actual lighting goes it was either this website or the folks at the feed store who told me that the type of light matters also. Apparently the chickens aren't able to "see" certain types of lighting that we humans see. I know my chickens can see the LED light that I'm using as they all come down from the roost when I turn the light on in the morning.

 

[jreardon1918]

We have 7 hens. RIR, white Plymouth rocks, Easter egger, brama,orpington. They are now 20 months old. No eggs since the end of November. And November was a slow month as well. Last year we only had a slight decline when they were pullet layers over the winter. No supplemental light. But I am thinking about starting some now as the solstice is about to hit and they have finished molting. We will get a few new chicks this spring. So maybe next winter the new chicks will start laying in the fall and continue through their first winter. It will probably be time then to also start the hard part of chicken math... subtraction.

 

[GC-Raptor]

No supplemental light. But I am thinking about starting some now as the solstice is about to hit and they have finished molting.

If you add light, only increase currently available light by 20 minutes a day up to 60 minutes a week. Light in coop should be bright enough to read a newspaper in areas furthest from light.
One 40 watt equivalent LED in the center of a 10' x 10' coop should be enough. A larger coop should have two or more evenly spaced.
Lights should not shine into nest boxes.
My new coop I mounted light fixture on same wall as nests, light doesn't shine inside. . Sunlight will shine inside nests, if I left people door open. I do not. GC

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

We have 7 hens. RIR, white Plymouth rocks, Easter egger, brama,orpington. They are now 20 months old. No eggs since the end of November. And November was a slow month as well. Last year we only had a slight decline when they were pullet layers over the winter. No supplemental light. But I am thinking about starting some now as the solstice is about to hit and they have finished molting. We will get a few new chicks this spring. So maybe next winter the new chicks will start laying in the fall and continue through their first winter. It will probably be time then to also start the hard part of chicken math... subtraction.

How long did the molt on the RIR's last? I want to save enough eggs to get me through that. I can't imagine eating grocery store egg ever again.

 

[jreardon1918]

2-3 months. We have had to go to store bought eggs.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

2-3 months. We have had to go to store bought eggs.

That's very sad. I think I'll try to save a few dozen or 10 to get me through when their time comes. Did they lay any eggs at all during their molt?

 

[jreardon1918]

Last egg was 11/28.

 

[jthornton]

I wonder if the shorter days up north are enough to make them just stop laying. Mine are getting about 11 hours a day and I have one that stopped this month and one that has not laid an egg since October and she is the one that molted and her comb and waddles are very pink unlike the rest which have very red combs and waddles.

JT

 

[aart]

Most the pullets here are slacking despite 12-13 hours ...SMH...cranking it up early this year as most the old girls are done molting.