LED Chicken Coop Lighting Project

[aart]

We had a name for guys like you when I worked in the engineering field...

...all in fun!

But about lighting for winter laying...it's a little(ALOT) late to start it now.
Start late next summer, the light should be increased a bit at a time(programming challenge, eh?).
A drastic change in 'day length' can cause stress and may not give you the results you wish at this time.

Here's a pretty good article on supplemental lighting, understanding how it works on a chickens physiology should help you implement more effectively.

 

[ShockValue]

If it's implemented when daylight hours > 14, then the 'gradual' part will take care of itself.

 

[sneakychicken]

We have done a similar thing this year and it has been great. The timer comes on in the AM, which also powers a heated dog water bowl. The light is only on for about 4 hours (and the power to the water bowl). Our 6 layers have been going strong all season and our two old girls are just happy and along for the ride . Something we do different from my friends who never get good production in winter is that our entire run is a deep litter compost situation. We also interact with our girls a good bit....maybe it's just a coincidence though.

 

[Calima]

I am a newbie and don't have a clue how to put lighting in my very small coop for my 4 hens. I don't have electricity to my coop. Please help me!

 

[jetdog]

I am a newbie and don't have a clue how to put lighting in my very small coop for my 4 hens. I don't have electricity to my coop. Please help me!

First of all you'll need to get electricity to it, I went to lowes and bought a 14 inch led strip plugged into a digital timer,led doesn't get hot and takes up no room,it's very bright but I only use it during the winter as daylight fades early.

 

[Calima]

Okay, I'll go to Lowe's 2moro. Thanks, I'm a female,RN! All I know is how to care for my patients, When I get the 14inch led strip plugged into a digital timer, is that just one unit or 2 separate items? Thanks

 

[Zerlog]

This is similar to what I want to do in my coop. Good job!

 

[maihem]

Newbie here. On my way to a well over engineered coop.
I know that I am too lazy to keep up with changing daylight hours on a normal timer. So, for supplemental coop lighting, I did something similar that would reset itself daily with no effort on my part.

Technical sketch.

LED light strips surrounding the top panel, inaccessible to chickens, secured with light clips. Now debating a dimmer since you brought up that brightness thing.
Also, going to swap out my current delay relay timer for a AGPtek HG4 series timer so I have a digital display or visual readout of where the timer is, mainly to verify it's on after dusk. Sorry I don't have pics of the finished product, will take those once I get the timers swapped as the closed up electrical box is pretty boring.

 

[RonP]

This topic comes up often, my reply to a previous query, hope it helps:

There are a lot of opinions on supplementing light to keep the chickens laying during time period where there is less than 12-14 hours of available daylight.

My coop gets 16 hours of light 351 days per year.
I turn lights off for 14 days to have birds go into a controlled moult late September .

Having had to install electricity for the thermostatically controlled water heater, I took advantage and installed a lighting system.

My system has two timers. The first is set to turn the lights on at 5am, off at 9pm.
Power goes on, passes through a photocell, then to a 300 lumen LED bulb, 4.8 watts, in the coop, and 2 4.8 watt LEDs for the outside run.
All bulbs are warm white - 3000K
I light the run because I found the birds huddled outside the coop door in the dark one 5:30am morning...
They have access to the run 24/7, as it is as secure as the coop.

The lights are on only when it is dark enough outside to be necessary.
The time on very closely mimics my Summer Solstice.

The second timer is set to go on at 8:30pm, off at 9:30pm, a diffused 200 lumen LED 4 watt bulb.
This low light allows the birds to settle in before all lights out.

This system costs less than $5 per year to operate.

 

[Bobb Craig]

Good afternoon, I was looking to create something very similar, with some minor differences, and am wondering if you have thought of these. I would like to use RGBW LED strings so I can gradually raise the light levels like it was actually a sunrise (with changing colors), and then go backwards at sunset. However I have read that chickens don't actually "see" that but work from the dark side. I also want to leave red lights on at night, mostly because our birds seem to be less skiddish when I do so. We live in North Dakota, and they are in sdie a lot during the winter, so I believe added light helps. In fact last winter, they never stopped laying eggs, so long as I kept the lights working properly. They were none too productive when we lost power for 6 days due to an ice storm, not that I blame them, as I didn't do too much either. Thanks for a great article on your project.

Bobb