I put a low voltage light in my coop

[Dooner]

Happy Thanksgiving all!

As I said above, I just added a low voltage deck light to the inside of my coop. Nice light. It adds enough light to the inside since the walls are white. I spliced it into the landscape lighting which already has a timer. Our sunrise is at seven and sunset around 4:30, about nine hours. Does it matter if I extend the hours at night or in the morning? I watched them last night go in at 4:30 and they roosted then.

 

[goldies99]

actually i was wondering the same thing.....mine go in to roost at the same time...(4:30pm)......i turn my light off around 7pm......i want to get a timer so the light goes on at 5am...
they need 14 hours of light to keep laying

 

[Dooner]

Should the extrea light be in the morning, at night, or does it matter?

 

[shellybean40]

I think a timer to turn it on at night could be safer. You don't want to have it turn off in the pitch dark and them not find their roost, you know?

 

[M.sue]

We extended the light hours in the morning so the chickens wouldn't be trying to roost in the evening and all of a sudden...LIGHTS OUT!

 

[Dooner]

I added four hours in the early evening and believe it or not the egg production went back up within a couple of days!

 

[Hollywood Hen]

I'm thinking of doing this in a couple of days...back when I only had a couple of chickens, I didn't really care if they stopped laying over the winter, but now that I have more mouths to feed, I can't afford to have them freeloading through the dark months!

How much light do you need for it to make a difference? I'm thinking of using on 60w-equivalent CF, do I need more to light up a 4x6 coop? Also, do I need to light up the run as well, or is just the coop enough?

Thanks!

 

[Dooner]

My coop is four by six as well and I only added one low voltage deck light and it lights it up nice. The inside of the coop is all white so it reflects nice.

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[groundpecker]

My hens still lay with about 12 hours of light. I have a 13w CFL in the coup that comes on at 5 am and goes off at 7:30 am. It gets dark around 5:30 pm here. Also keeps my quail laying with the same time settings.

 

[jgaepi]

Good question. To add another question, is the light better white or red? If red, should it have a heating element to it? Like a brooding light? I was wondering the same thing.