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

[Cindy in PA]

Interesting, how do you employ your lighting regime?....................RR

I just put in a 40 watt bulb on August 15th when we go below 14 hours of sunlight. I start it at about an hour before sun rise and gradually turn it on longer until I get to 4 additional hours. I am not careful to turn it back 15 minutes every couple days or anything, just add 1/2 and hour when I remember.

 

[cargilelove]

man..... we are torn!

our egg production is very little this week. i'm not sure if the girls have molted or already getting ready for winter? (they are all under a year) it was almost 70 degrees here in denver today. the reason we have chickens is for eggs. we also want to treat them as humanely as possible. not sure what to do!

 

[cargilelove]

thanks for all of the awesome feedback!!

 

[GaryDean26]

the reason we have chickens is for eggs. we also want to treat them as humanely as possible. not sure what to do!

If you have them for eggs only then the light sounds like what you need (I would also try increasing the protein in the diet during molts). It takes 3 weeks after light is added for the hormones of the hen to change from not laying eggs to bring them back into production so the sooner you start the better. Adding light is NOT inhumane so I wouldn't worry about that.

I know a breeder a lot further north than I am ( more along the latitude of Denver) that selects her breeding stock based on who lays the longest in the fall and who lays earliest in the spring. She has been breeding a flock of 60 layers for 4 years. The first year she would get about a dozen eggs a day during the winter months on natural light. Now she gets 3 dozen eggs a day during the winter on natural light. She feels that this solution works better for her than lighting the coop all winter.

My family hails from Wyoming and there have been laying hens on the family farm there for 4 generations. That flock always has had light during the winter. Since I don't sell to the local Eggs Co-op like the family farm did I am fine with fewer eggs during the winter. I just keep more chickens.

You don't have anything to lose if you try the light this year. If you don't like using lights, then you can always go back to natural light at any time and you will know what works best for you. Not just what works best for everyone else.

 

[SterlingRanch]

Added lights for the first time this year to see if I can smooth out the laying curve. Around here (Tx) I get a dump truck load of eggs (ok, not really I only have 12 hens) in the early spring and then nothing once the temps rise for the whole rest of the year. So basically I'm left with a welfare army of hens expecting hand outs for nothing. You would think I would be used to this by now I found that by adding lights in the winter I'm getting a trickle of eggs and hopefully during the spring I'll still only get a trickle and they can have the whole late spring and summer off again. Winters and early spring they better be producing.

 

[Anicholesz]

Nobody has mentioned lighting for warmth. I am in northern Michigan and have been turning on the light at night in fear of the cold temperatures. I noticed that the girls get a bit restless and I am wondering if they are better off without it. They are protected from wind but it can get pretty darn cold! Any thoughts?

 

[Suzie]

Just like everything in life.... I am a firm believer that nature does what it needs to do because that's inherently the way it works best. Thanks for the comments. It really mirrors what my instincts were telling me. : )

Thanks!!

My sentiments exactly... nature gives my girls time to rest when they need to.

Besides... a Rooster crowing late at night or early morning is a vexation to my rest!

Each to their own... what works for you....

 

[5chicks4us]

Adding the light can aggravate them and cause them to peck each others feathers. Personally, we do not use a lamp for heat and we never will. Insulating the coop and making it free of drafts is the way to go. When you make them dependent on heat, what happens during a power outage? They suffer and can die. They can also die from a fire, which happens all too often when you add in any sort of light for egg production or heat. Remember that chickens are birds and they have survived for many years before humans starting putting them in coops.

 

[appps]

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

How does a light stop water freezing?


Personally, though I have no scientific proof for this I think we have already bred these birds outside of normal to be huge producers of eggs rather than just a few clutches like other birds. Add to that not allowing those over worked bodies a slow down over winter by tricking them into doing even more laying cannot possibly be good for them.

Guess you need to decide if you want what is best for you or best for the birds.

 

[newfarmgirl]

I use a red light during the cold months. This gives off enough heat to my girls to keep their combs from freezing and their water from freezing. We live on top of a hill with a lot of constant wind. I figure since you have to adequate ventilation...my coop is not draft proof. This has worked well for me for the last few years. My light is secured so no hen can roost on or near it and far enough away from bedding and walls.:cd