Feeding at Night!

[Doc7]

My birds jump down sometimes when I go out after work in the dark for egg collecting. I just assume they mistakenly believe the flashlight is sunrise. You might have the same issue.

 

[Chelsea-85]

I too give my birds a "midnight feast" treat.... usually a warm mash made with a mixture of layer pellets and chick crumbs soaked in warm water or fermented feed and they love it.
They have layer feed available 24/7 but they really enjoy their late night top up and it is surprising how many older girls have come back into production after I started making it a regular feature..... it's not usually "midnight" but can be anywhere from 8pm to 1am. I too allow them about an hour of artificial light during this time and once their pans of feed have been gobbled up, some go back up onto the roost and preen whilst others scratch about or eat from the regular dry pellet feeder. It actually has me thinking that the shorter days mean that they actually have less time to ingest food and that may be part of the reason why egg production drops during the winter. If it was purely down to light stimulating the pineal gland to produce hormones then why have my birds started back up laying right around the winter solstice when the days are at their very shortest? That extra hour of light during the night is hardly going to make a difference to the bare 9 hrs of natural light at this time of year, especially when they are in a dim stable for most of that time. If you think about it, in summer they can eat from 4am until 10 pm, so their crop full of food that they go to roost with is probably digested in 6hrs. In winter, if they go to roost at 4pm with a full crop, it could be almost empty by 10pm. An evening feed enables them to top that up to take them through until dawn, so more nutrients are going through their system enabling them to have more spare for egg production. My older girls (2-6yr olds) have almost all come back into lay already and my pullets from June are laying well.

If I don't put the light on and just go in to collect eggs without a pan of feed at night I am usually met by a protest group.
I also like the fact that I can watch them and make sure everyone is keen to eat and getting their share. At other times of the day when some of them may already have filled up from the feeder before I get there, there is not such enthusiasm for my pan of food, especially if I let them out to free range at the same time. They all want to go their separate ways, so this night time treat gives me an opportunity to observe them more closely and give special attention/food to any that are low on the pecking order.... those birds also learn to come to me for their feed and helps to tame them and I get to interact with my flock when much of the rest of the day, I don't have time.

I'm not advocating others to do this and the only reason I do it is because I struggle to maintain a daily routine for myself due to years of working rotating shifts, so my animals have all learned to adapt to my very flexible time schedule. Interestingly my horses and chickens and cats all seem quite chilled about this flexible approach.

I agree that it is not natural and I don't know if it will have any long term effects but short term they seem very happy with the arrangement and I am getting eggs again which is nice. They are still getting a lot of dark time, so it may mess with their system less than adding artificial lighting for 4 hrs before dawn or in the evening. It is probably also more cost effective having a light on for 1 hr in the evening rather than 4 hrs if I am right about the extra food intake stimulating egg production as an alternative to light. This is probably the second winter that I have done this although I was more hit and miss about it last year.
Anyway, I get pleasure from doing this and my hens seem to really enjoy it. They have almost all started back up laying within a couple of weeks of doing it nightly, which suggests to me they are not stressed by it. I like that my birds have down time from laying but since most moulted in September/October, they have had 3 months off which I think is reasonable and many also go broody in the summer, so they get down time then too. Interestingly the pens down here at home where I don't dish out a midnight feast are not yet laying, just the ones at my stable yard with the horses where I have electricity to put a light on and give them feed. They usually hear me feeding and mucking out the horses anyway and are probably mostly awake before I put the light on.

Thank you dear rebrascora for your nice comment and explanation, and your daily routine looks the same as mine. The same here, due to busy day-work, I don't have much time to observe them in day. So, feeding them at night has the following pros (based on my experience):

1- The extra hour of light in winter is useful for the birds to keep laying.
2- My white Pullet started laying when she was only 14 weeks-old (imagine the age and the time of the first egg - 27 December).
3- They go to the nesting box in the sunset around (5pm); dawn is 5 am, it means they will be without food for 10 hours. So, having fed them at 9 to 10 pm would be a great meal to keep them well fed especially in winter when they eat %25 more than the amount they eat in summer.
4- In that time of night, I have the chance to change the water to a warm one (Not hot) which they like it more when they drink in the cold weather.
5- I have the chance to observe them and check for any change, since I don't have much time in day time to do so.
And some other points

Regards

 

[Chelsea-85]

Y

My birds jump down sometimes when I go out after work in the dark for egg collecting. I just assume they mistakenly believe the flashlight is sunrise. You might have the same issue.

Yes, dear you are right, this happens when you first start feeding them at night; after few days they will adapt it.

 

[rebrascora]

I can go in without a torch to get eggs at night and they still jump down and are wanting their treat but only because they are now used to getting a midnight feast.

 

[Chelsea-85]

I can go in without a torch to get eggs at night and they still jump down and are wanting their treat but only because they are now used to getting a midnight feast.

Same is here. They are used to have their night meal