Is there a downside to putting a light in the coop for the winter months?

[johnderosa1]

I am in NW Ga and we don't fight temperatures being too low like some of you do.  However, I DO use lights, starting in mid-November.  I only add light in the AM, never the PM.  Light is added and gradually increased such that they get 14 hours of light per day.

Now - my reasoning is slightly different than those offered so far.  I have found that LF (I raise Columbian Plymouth Rocks) finish larger if I hatch them in the winter months.  I typically set my breeding pens up in late Nov-early Dec and finish my hatching right after New Years.  It has made a HUGE difference in the size of my birds once fully grown.  Secondarily to this, the birds hatch in winter are much larger when the full blown summer heat sets in and I have lost NONE to heat related issues since I began hatching earlier.

For those of you looking for egg production, lights are going to help tremendously.  Egg production is directly related to light.

I've done this for many years and I have yet to see an adverse reaction in my birds.  After I am finished hatching I may turn the lights off for a short period, but normally turn them back on so that I can fill orders for hatching eggs in early Spring.

Hope this helps

Interesting observation regarding bird size. My winter hatched birds are also much larger than my spring hatched birds... In fact i raised a batch of chicks this spring and kept them indoors in dim light and have the smallest birds i 've ever raised. I added light to this coop to try to offset that effect going forward. As for supplemental lighting for eggs.... I do it and it makes a big difference. I do find that it can lead to some feather picking so you need to be looking out for it. I use two 830 lumen LED lights in my 8 x 16 coop (4.5 watts each) plus a .5 watt LED to simulate dawn and dusk. I have the lights on 3 separate timers (overkill) with the . 5 watt light coming on first , then one of the 830 lumen lights for several hours followed by the 2nd light and then reverse the order with the .5 watt bulb going off last . Total time = 14 hrs. I start the lights at 6 am and end at 8 pm. I have two coops and i am letting my older hens rest until jan and then will supplement them.

 

[Yard full o' rocks]

Interesting observation regarding bird size. My winter hatched birds are also much larger than my spring hatched birds... In fact i raised a batch of chicks this spring and kept them indoors in dim light and have the smallest birds i 've ever raised. I added light to this coop to try to offset that effect going forward. As for supplemental lighting for eggs.... I do it and it makes a big difference. I do find that it can lead to some feather picking so you need to be looking out for it. I use two 830 lumen LED lights in my 8 x 16 coop (4.5 watts each) plus a .5 watt LED to simulate dawn and dusk. I have the lights on 3 separate timers (overkill) with the . 5 watt light coming on first , then one of the 830 lumen lights for several hours followed by the 2nd light and then reverse the order with the .5 watt bulb going off last . Total time = 14 hrs. I start the lights at 6 am and end at 8 pm. I have two coops and i am letting my older hens rest until jan and then will supplement them.

I've noticed "feather picking" mentioned several times here. NEVER has that been an issue at my place. I've read that feather picking can be an indicator of a deficiency in protein. Feathers are 100% protein and "pin feathers" can be especially vulnerable

If feather picking is an issue in your flock, I would check your feed and insure that your birds are getting plenty of protein and it should include animal protein....chickens are omnivorous not vegetarians

 

[johnderosa1]

I've noticed "feather picking" mentioned several times here.  NEVER has that been an issue at my place.  I've read that feather picking can be an indicator of a deficiency in protein.  Feathers are neither 100% protein and "pin feathers" can be especially vulnerable

If feather picking is an issue in your flock, I would check your feed and insure that your birds are getting plenty of protein and it should include animal protein....chickens are omnivorous not vegetarians

i am using an 18% protein feed this fall and so far no feather picking at all. I will continue to monitor. I did run into a problem 2 yrs ago when using 16% feed.

 

[Yard full o' rocks]

i am using an 18% protein feed this fall and so far no feather picking at all. I will continue to monitor. I did run into a problem 2 yrs ago when using 16% feed.

I use an 18% as well (year round) and supplement with meat scraps, freezer burned ground venison, etc (we've gotten into a habit of putting all the dinner scraps (not leftovers, but scraps) in a tupperware container and feeding it to the birds next day, includes steak, chicken, porkchop bones, leftover veggies, etc)....I also try to free range my birds daily. In the winter they have access to approx 1/2 acre planted in a "deer mix".....its normally clover, chickory, turnips, kale, winter wheat.

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

In my experience the down sides are the following

less frozen water in the coop
less loss of chickens due to freezing to death
and more eggs in the winter, in fact my hens lay consistantly year round


hope that helps

Where are you and under what circumstances have you had chickens freeze to death? Or are you just speculating? BYC has members that keep chickens in Alaska at -50 F, and they do not freeze to death. There is a big difference between adding light to increase daylength and adding heat bulbs. I do not advocate heat bulbs. Let your chickens acclimate to the weather change gradually with the changing of the seasons and they'll be just fine. We get down around -20F for at least a few days every winter and we don't even get frostbite on the white Leghorns.

I have been lighting my coop from August 15th until May 15th for 20 years. I started lighting because the article in Organic Gardening in 1993 told me to do it & told me everything else I needed to know for chickens. My chickens have always molted & taken their turns at "resting" in their second fall even with lighting. I never understood the comments that lighting keeps chickens from molting. I have never found that to be true. They molted on schedule & the light was there for the ones that were still laying. Chickens indeed are born with all the eggs they will ever have, but so is every other female in the food chain & very few ever "run out" including humans. I have had 8 year old chickens laying a few eggs a week, even though they laid like gangbusters in their first 2 years and were hatchery stock. This is just my experience, so everyone has to make their own decision on lighting.

I agree, my hens moult on schedule. We then use lighting to bring them back into lay sooner. Lighting does not stop them from moulting.

The argument that "chickens are born with all the eggs they will ever lay" so don't light them or they'll burn out faster is specious. The fact is true, but they are born with many thousands more eggs than they could ever lay, just like humans.

Chickens evolved nearer the equator than most of us live, so in their natural habitat they would not see these sharp dips in daylight hours that we see in the northern hemisphere. Contrary to it not being natural, giving them extra lighting is more natural than them not laying eggs all winter.

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

I turn the barn light on and never turn it off until spring. It gets so bloody dark so early and I can't see them to feed them. So it's mostly on for me and them laying eggs is just a bonus. I suppose I could turn it off but it's in a far off corner that I store stuff in front of and I'm lazy so I don't. No ill effects as of yet.

Research has proven that more than 18 hours of light actually decreases egg production.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Lighting is important. If you go through the list of possible defects in eggs in this link, you’ll see improper lighting listed several times. Some of that is from lights going on and off, but some specifically mention over 15 hours or continuous light as potential causes of defects in eggs.

http://www.thepoultrysite.com/ourbooks/1/egg-quality-handbook/

Are you guaranteed to have problems if the lights are on continuously? No. Is it possible that can cause problems? Yes.

 

[homeworkin]

Natural length of daylight is relative to where you live vs where chickens came from. If I wanted my chickens to have a completely natural life I would let them live in trees in the jungle. I use lights because we are far enough north to have very short days in winter. My chickens work here, they are well-kept livestock not pets.

 

[StacyAK]

This is my first winter with chickens. I have a heat bulb in their coop and have noticed that when I turn it off they won't go inside once it's dark. I went down Saturday night to give them water and lock them up for the evening and they were all in a heap in the snow sleeping. As soon as I went in an turned the light on they all came running inside like they had been locked out the whole time! This has happened every time I turned their light off in the morning for the day. I'm not sure what to do. I don't want to mess up their laying cycle by having a light on 24/7, but I also don't want them sitting outside in the cold all day like a bunch of dummies. They are only 3 months old and haven't even started laying yet so not sure if the light will mess with them or not.

 

[Indigosands]

The chicken chick just has a blog post about this, with consultation from a actual avian vet.

http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2011/09/supplemental-light-in-coop-why-how.html