How long should the lamp on at night?

[rdegray04]

I live in MA, i have 50 birds and a large coop. I only leave the light on for about an hour and a half, it’s on a timer and comes on at dusk as a trigger to let the chickens know it’s time to go to bed, then once they are settled in it shuts off, I have never had a heat supply in the winter, i’ve been raising chickens for 15 years and never once had a frostbit talon, beak, colmbs or waddles. Each one of my birds, mostly big breed leghorns, each generate enough heat ommited from a 60watt soft light bulb, I use the light soley as a trigger to get them to go into the coop at night then it shuts off after an hour and a half.

 

[Howard E]

Hmmmm........wonder what I'm doing wrong? I don't use an artificial light of any type, yet my birds all go inside at night.....the last of them always within minutes of the dusk to dawn light on our driveway coming on......and when I go out to lock up, all of them are inside and on the roosts and settled in for the night. Several years now and always the same thing.

 

[jthornton]

@Howard E that's a beautiful coop you have with lots of natural light coming in. I wish I had a place to build one exactly like that.

JT

 

[Howard E]

Not only does it look nice, it performs!!!

Old saying with buildings.......and that is of any type........"form follows function". The house in the photo is a Woods house........a 100 year old design. What chickens need to survive and thrive has been known for well over 100 years. There are a ton of features in that house that make it work.

What they don't need.......could care less about and actually runs to their detriment......is CUTE. When CUTE is the driver, the birds will almost be the ones to suffer for it.

The further a builder gets away from what is known and proven to work, the more likely it is that the birds will respond unfavorably. They are being forced to adapt to......live with......conditions that are detrimental to their well being. They do the best they can with what they have.

 

[rdegray04]

Hmmmm........wonder what I'm doing wrong? I don't use an artificial light of any type, yet my birds all go inside at night.....the last of them always within minutes of the dusk to dawn light on our driveway coming on......and when I go out to lock up, all of them are inside and on the roosts and settled in for the night. Several years now and always the same thing.

View attachment 1587880

Howard you're not doing anything wrong. If all your birds are going in at the same time every night without a light as a trigger then mission accomplished my friend. My very first flock,15 yrs ago did the same thing, went in at dusk and came out at dawn no lights. None of the flocks i've had since, won't willingly go in the coop without some type of trigger so cudos to you sir, beautiful coop. I'd wanna be in it all the time to if i were a chicken.

 

[Howard E]

Interesting bit of information in the first Chapter of Woods book. He said even then, that if not for the issue of predators, our chickens would be better off roosting in trees. That is a far cry from what most of us think it should be.

 

[aart]

I use supplemental lighting for winter laying and prefer to have it come on in the early morning. I have 13 hours now and will ramp it up at solstice to 14+.

Several people have the lights on morning and at night too and the birds go to roost just fine even when the light is still on. @lazy gardener who has left the forum(but you could search her posts) and I think @Cindy in PA does this also.

The important things are to:
have the light bright enough to 'read a newspaper' at roost height,
have feed and water available when ever light is on,
and to have light in a timer so lighting is consistent day to day.

 

[Kuangmao]

I use supplemental lighting for winter laying and prefer to have it come on in the early morning. I have 13 hours now and will ramp it up at solstice to 14+.

Several people have the lights on morning and at night too and the birds go to roost just fine even when the light is still on. @lazy gardener who has left the forum(but you could search her posts) and I think @Cindy in PA does this also.

The important things are to:
have the light bright enough to 'read a newspaper' at roost height,
have feed and water available when ever light is on,
and to have light in a timer so lighting is consistent day to day.

Thanks a lot

 

[ChicknWing]

I'm fairly new to keeping chickens - started back in May 2018 & have worked up to 22 chickens across two flocks. I'm planning on installing a light in both of my coops & am curious as to whether it's necessary to have food & water in the coop when the lights come on .. let's say around 4AM? Unfortunately, my coops are not big enough to allow for keeping food & water inside. Both coops have doors on them which automatically open at dawn. Both coops open into an enclosed pen area where there is food & water. If needed, I can install lights in the pen so that they come on at the same time as the ones in the coop & the doors also open around that time. This way, the chickens can come out to eat & drink. If it's not necessary and the chickens can wait a few hours before they get out & eat, then that will be easier.

Please let me know which path should I follow.

 

[EggWalrus]

I'm fairly new to keeping chickens - started back in May 2018 & have worked up to 22 chickens across two flocks. I'm planning on installing a light in both of my coops & am curious as to whether it's necessary to have food & water in the coop when the lights come on .. let's say around 4AM? Unfortunately, my coops are not big enough to allow for keeping food & water inside. Both coops have doors on them which automatically open at dawn. Both coops open into an enclosed pen area where there is food & water. If needed, I can install lights in the pen so that they come on at the same time as the ones in the coop & the doors also open around that time. This way, the chickens can come out to eat & drink. If it's not necessary and the chickens can wait a few hours before they get out & eat, then that will be easier.

Please let me know which path should I follow.

I would just put lights in the pen. Once the light shines into the sleeping birds, they will get up and come on out to greet the day. That's if the coops have windows for the light to shine into.