How much light (brightness) does it take?

[Delmar]

How much light (brightness) does it take? to get my chickens started laying in the winter time?

The people I got my birds from have a bunch of pullets that are the same age that started laying two weeks ago. From what I can tell the main difference is they have a light in the coop for heat and I don't. Though I do have a cookie tin water heater that I put in about 10 days ago. I decided to try a little solar LED light to see if that would be enough to make the difference.

I put the steak in the ground outside the coop then at night I remove the light from the steak and hang it out of reach inside the coop. It is not very bright, but it makes it so they can see their way to the water at night. Any guesses whether this is enough to make any difference? If it is enough light, how long should it take to make a difference?

 

[gritsar]

I don't add light, but I've been told (and read) many times that it should be bright enough to make out the words on a newspaper (when directly under the light).

Have hope. The days are already getting longer. According to the farmers almanac we should be back up to 14 hrs. of light a day in mid-March (at least here in SW Ark).

Just re-read your post. It's not the light for heat they need, it's the light for lights sake.

 

[sourland]

14 hours of light a day starts the hormones flowing.

 

[Delmar]

Quote:
Do your birds lay in the winter time, without additional light?

Have hope. The days are already getting longer. According to the farmers almanac we should be back up to 14 hrs. of light a day in mid-March (at least here in SW Ark).

Just re-read your post. It's not the light for heat they need, it's the light for lights sake.

I get that. The people who have birds from the same batch have a light for heat, but it has them laying, because it's light. I have a cookie tin water heater, that does provide heat but no light. I might try to put a window in the water heater before next winter so that heating the water gives enough light to keep laying.​

 

[Delmar]

Quote:
Right. I was just hoping that my little solar light (or three or four of them) would do the trick, but not be so bright I needed to mess with a timer.

 

[wordgirl]

If you could figure out when your sun comes up, add fourteen hours to it. That's how long they'll need light to. Then figure out when your sun goes down (or just watch the skies

) and go out to your coop before it gets too dark and flip on your light. Then go back off and flip it off when you've gotten to the fourteen hour mark. I did that for a few months last winter with my chickens (don't have any this year

). I brought a small light with me when I went to turn off the light, and often waited and helped them (with the light) to get on their roosts.

Hope this helps!

 

[tuesdays chicks]

My girls started laying again last week, we're lucky if we get 12 hours dawn till dusk and that isn't sun up and down either, but I have an open coop so they don't need the light to come in a window. I tried putting the spot light on in the mornings but doesn't really help when they aren't laying for other reasons like molting.

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
Do your birds lay in the winter time, without additional light?

Have hope. The days are already getting longer. According to the farmers almanac we should be back up to 14 hrs. of light a day in mid-March (at least here in SW Ark).

Just re-read your post. It's not the light for heat they need, it's the light for lights sake.

I get that. The people who have birds from the same batch have a light for heat, but it has them laying, because it's light. I have a cookie tin water heater, that does provide heat but no light. I might try to put a window in the water heater before next winter so that heating the water gives enough light to keep laying.​

Yes they do. My younger girls are laying really well, but I expected that. It's their first winter, they are 8 months old and generally a young pullet going into her first winter will lay, regardless of the light.
My older girls - will be 3 yrs. old in April - are giving me now an average of 6 eggs a day from 12 hens. They were doing better about a month ago, but the past 3 weeks have been very cold. It takes energy to keep warm, so they don't have that energy to put into egg laying. They don't have light either, but we did design their coop to take advantage of every bit of natural light available.

 

[Delmar]

I have no idea if the light made any difference, but we got our first egg today! It's pretty small, and there is only one, but it's a start!

 

[MareeZoCool]

You could install a window, to give your girls natural light. We open the coop door at 7AM, close them up at dark. Winters are easy, the chickens want to roost at dusk. Summer is much more difficult, they won't turn in untill it's dark outside.