How long for egg laying after supplemental lighting?

[lissalischicks]

I think it is recommended gradual to try to mimic the natural increase in daylight. But let me know how it went. It took me weeks.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

I hear that. My boys have no interest in mounting the girls unless it's sunny and pushing 30 F. Have not had an egg for almost two months now so have no idea on fertility as yet. Without adding light the past three years with current flock we'd have to wait two to three weeks for high fertility rate after the flock started laying. A lot to be said about the cock birds needing daylight too. Everyone is in one house now and seems to be the time to kick them in gear. Need to break the cycle of 11 month pullets laying first egg. Also want a lot of chicks on the ground this year and with only a trio and pairing to collect from will need an early start for any kind of numbers.

 

[rebrascora]

The thing with the commercial industry is that they are not interested in the long term effects of what they do because those birds are going to be culled and replaced in a couple of years anyway and I think suddenly increasing or decreasing the number of hours of daylight may have longer term repercussions rather like shift workers often have problems in later life.
In back yard flocks where they are more exposed to the elements and seasons, it may also have more of an effect on them than in a "climate controlled" poultry house. I would increase by half an hour every few days and see how you go but it is likely that they will be getting ready to start laying soon anyway.
I can understand your reasons for wanting to bring it forwards a few weeks though if you can!

 

[lazy gardener]

As you said, EggHead, adding the light will kick your roos into dating mode also.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

My birds will not start laying any amount until we are in a warming trend and 10 hours of daylight if left to themselves. I'm sorry but I don't believe there will be long term traumatic stress disorder in flicking the daylight from 9 hours to 12.

 

[rebrascora]

Well 2 of my girls (3 year olds) came back on line yesterday, at long last, despite the dark dismal weather here! Nice to see some eggs again from my laying flock! .....that is just with natural light.

 

[Birdinhand]

last year I didn't use artificial light, just added a window and my hens kept laying. This year, even though I had some new pullets, when the alpha older hens went into molt, they all stopped laying. I had run electricity down to the coop in the summer so I decided to throw an LED bulb in to extend the light. I did not do anything gradual, just supplemented the morning and evening to total 12-14 hours of light. it took a couple of weeks before the laying resumed and several more weeks till it was back to normal, light and molt both being factors.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I don’t extend the lights so I can’t give you any answers from experience. I know you butcher your cockerels and sell your pullets, not sure what you do with your older hens. I butcher pullets and hens, some laying, some not, and even a broody a couple of times. You can learn a lot by butchering pullets and hens. If a hen is laying she has a lot of ova in different sizes growing big enough to become a yolk. Her internal egg making factory is swollen, moist and soft. If she is not laying the ova are tiny and that internal factory is pretty dried up. I don’t know how long it takes for them to go from barren to ready to lay mode. I don’t think it is going to happen overnight unless they are already a long way toward getting ready to lay.

Length of daylight is not the only trigger to get them to start laying but it is a huge one. Some hens are going to lay in cold weather better than others. How much they eat, not just protein but other nutrients, can have an effect. Protein is a big one though. With shorter days they don’t have enough time to eat and digest as much as if the days were a bit longer.

My suggestion is to bite the bullet and try it. Now. Do whatever you are going to do and see when you start getting enough fertile eggs. Then adjust next year based on this year’s results. There will probably be some trial and error before you find your sweet spot.

 

[aart]

I think bumping up the light fast is less detrimental than reducing the light fast,
at least as far as egg production goes.
Will be curious to see your results.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Two weeks on the nose after supplementing light. Got an egg this morning! Frozen solid and small side of medium but an egg just the same. Light was out for two days before I'd noticed it in first week but it seems to be doing the trick. Believe that was the first egg of last springs pullets. So happy, may be setting eggs by March this year after all.