Help me trouble shoot my light issues please!

[patandchickens]

Quote:
Not always the case. I am using lights till 10 pm to stop my birds from going into a molt.

True, good point, hadn't thought of that. Dunno whether it applies to the o.p. however.

By the way Pat, are you going to the Royal this year??

Yup, we always do.


Pat​

 

[chickaboom]

Thanks again everyone for your great replies! I've made notes and I'm making adjustments!

 

[jubylives]

Quote:
I have my lights on a timer set to go off at 8:00 pm. They always seem to be in the coop and settled 30 minutes or so before the lights go out. They took to that schedule last winter whe I had to keep them in for a week or so. We had -0 F temps for over a week stretch. That really sucked.

Jeremy

 

[vermontgal]

I have a rope LED light - very cheap to run. Chickens only need a low-level of light -- if you could just barely read by the light, that is enough for chickens / egg laying.

 

[Liza]

Do you or can you use the light to heat the girls? I have only four chickens with the coop made of plywood. North wall solid, east and west walls 1/2 plywood and 1/2 screen. The south wall is all screen.

 

[Liza]

I guess what I should really ask is how cold can my chicks go?

I have four girls. Two Barred rocks (Goat and Margaret Mytrle) and two New Hamphire Reds (Blue Duck and Henny Penny).

It does freeze here in central Texas but usually it's just for a few hours right before dawn. We can have a few nights of this and SOMETIMES we can have a few days of freezing weather. Sometimes it 80 during the day and 20 at night! Lived here all my life and still can't keep up!

 

[jubylives]

Quote:
You won't need heat for them. Some here would say not to but it's personal choice. Ah Texas. No offense to any Texans but hate the place. The humidity, heat, tornadoes, the heat. I have all that here but you guys have them dam fire ants. Those creatures are from the pits of hell. When we left Teaxs we hit the Texas/Oklahoma border me and my buddy stopped, got out and right there on the intersate peed on the texas side of the state line. Never been back since. lol. Sorry a bit of reminicing.

Your chickens will be just fin even in the 20s. Be glad you don't get -0.

Jeremy

 

[Liza]

Dear Jeremy,

Texas is great but you really need to be a Texan to love it! I was born and raised here. We thought about moving once and my husband could not do it. He said, "No other place has Mexican Food, Mesquite Wood and four seasons in one day!"

Thanks for the information on the girls and the cold. So you don't think I need to tarp the coop during the night? Just the north plywood wall will do? I was worried about their little feet freezing off. They are not even a year old yet. They sleep on their roost in the cornor of the north and west wall. I have hay down in the coop. Just a worry wart here. Would hate to loose my girls this far into the game. They are laying two to three eggs a day!

Thanks,
Lisa