Laying after light restored

[dulahdaglace]

I turned the artificial light off for a week while I went on vacation. As I expected, my girls stopped laying. However I have been back for almost a week with their 14 hours of light restored and they haven't started laying again. How long will it take?

 

[Huntmaster]

As long as it is just the light causing this it shouldn't take more than a few weeks in my experiences. If I supplement light for laying, I usually give them About 14 1/2 hours.

 

[Nabiki]

It usually takes about two weeks to get back into laying, but it may vary.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

I turned the artificial light off for a week while I went on vacation. As I expected, my girls stopped laying. However I have been back for almost a week with their 14 hours of light restored and they haven't started laying again. How long will it take?

Sudden changes are not recommended.. how long was your daylight hours without the artificial lighting?

That could cause full blown molt.. it's one of the ways commercial poultry flocks are forced to molt at the same time, more uniformly.

Also sudden increase in lighting can cause multiple yolk release and extra large eggs leading to egg binding (and even death)..

Age of birds and nutrition may also impact time off lay.

Please report back your results when they do return.. for others who may have the same question.

 

[dulahdaglace]

Yesterday I got one egg, today I got 3 (out of 3 females). I bought a 24 hr timer so that next time the light will stay on. I didn't realize how harmful that was they had regular daylight hours but since they're inside, the light isn't as strong as outside which is why I supplement. The eggs aren't any larger than before and do not appear to be double yolkers. They definitely all molted though when I got back.