In Indiana here we are down to about 12 hours of daylight ( 7 - 7). This is my first season with chickens. They seem to be slowing down a little in their laying rate. Can anyone give me a suggestion when I should put a light in the coop, on a timer? I thought I read where they need 14 hours of light to keep their laying rates up.
Lots of people don't use lights in their coops. My hens laid just fine all winter without supplemental light. Some here feel that the extra light could be hard on their bodies, especially over the years--so try going without lights if you can.
I do 13 hours of light, with a timer, the birds I had on the timer last winter are still laying, what I do is figure out when dark is going to be, so it blends in with normal light patterns ( I write the times on the timer so I do it the same every year)
