How Long for Eggs After Lighting Up the Coop?? Please?

[Baymule]

My girls (6) have completed their first molt, the two original SLW hens we bought have molted also. Their combs are pink, no eggs.

There is no electricity in my coop, so yesterday I ran an outdoor extension cord from the porchlight fixture to the coop. It is safely high enough to walk under and of course, the dogs can't reach it to chew it up or get the shocking surprise of their life.

I ran the cord under the edge of the roof, secured it to a 2x4 and plugged in a timer, then plugged in a clamp on auto light. Set the timer, light came on.....so how long before they get the idea that it is Spring ( artificially) and get back to laying those big brown eggs we love so much? Thanks so much!

 

[1muttsfan]

Here is what Opa just posted on the Michigan thread:

Molting is triggered by the reduction of daylight and if the birds experience a hard molt egg production will cease. It is common for them to not resume laying for up to 8 weeks. Providing supplemental light can lessen the severity of the molt.

As the days shorten hens enter into a "resting stage" in which egg production falls off dramatically and in some birds ceases completely. Providing supplemental light will keep their egg production up. Depending upon breed, hens will only lay a certain amount of eggs in their entire life. Keeping the number of daylight hours above 15 will result in the hen laying those eggs in the shortest amount of time. Not providing additional light will result in the hen laying the same number of eggs but she take more years to do it.

While providing additional light will keep egg production up, it must be added before the day starts to shorten. You should plan on having the lights installed no later than the autumnal equinox. Once a hen has started to molt or has entered into her "resting" stage, adding additional light will not reverse the trend.

 

[gamebirdsonly]

Mine take any where from 1 to 3 weeks after getting the lights on them.

 

[Baymule]

Thanks for the info, that was really helpful! I have never put a light on the girls, but I have gone for a several months with NO eggs! Sure didn't want to do that again. But I didn't want to disrupt their seasonal molt either. I got scattered eggs 1-2 here and there while they molted, they didn't all molt at the same time, so that helped. Now they are all done with it and I didn't want to wait for longer days for them to start laying again. I got used to having oodles of eggs.......angel food cake, egg custard pie, buttermilk pie, lemon chess pie, meringue, deviled eggs, scrambled, fried, boiled, plus supplying fresh eggs to my DD and her husband and our 5 year old grand daughter. Wow! I am getting hungry! (goes to coop and has "that talk" to the girls............

 

[Baymule]

Yay!!

For the last 3 days, I've got 4 eggs each day! 4 out of 8 ain't a bad place to start.

 

[Baymule]

Yesterday I got 6 eggs out of 8 hens!!!! Lighting up the place really works. Dunno why I haven't done this before.