LED Christmas lights work!

[Amina]

Two weeks ago, I got a string of battery powered Christmas lights on a timer, and put them in my coop to encourage egg laying. I was not at all sure it would work, because Christmas lights in general aren't super bright, plus I have heard people say that the spectrum from LED lights is not ideal to encourage egg laying. But it worked great for me! I got my first egg in a couple months today!

Here is the product, in case some people without electricity in their coop are interested in it:
http://www.amazon.com/Battery-Opera..._sim_hg_5?ie=UTF8&refRID=1F89D7ARNT0DR4JP8R14

 

[aart]

Congrats!

How old are your layers?

 

[Amina]

About 1 1/2 years

 

[aart]

Cool and that's blue spectrum light too, red is supposed to be better I guess.

How long are the lights on each day and at what time?

 

[Amina]

So I know everyone says to have the lights on in the morning, but I have a rooster and don't want him crowing any earlier than he already does. None of my neighbors have complained and I'd like to keep it that way. I have it on in the evening, and the lights are dim enough that the chickens mostly stay on the roost the whole time, so it doesn't seem like a problem.

The lights are designed so that they stay on for 6 hours, and then turn on the following day the same time you turned them on the first day. Sunrise is around 7AM, so I have mine come on at 3PM, and they stay on til 9PM. So that's 14 hours of light per day. It adds a little less than 4 hours of daylight for them.

 

[aart]

Interesting, but it sounds like the light is having it's effect on the pineal gland even tho the hens aren't active during the time it's on.

 

[Amina]

Yep, that seems to be the case!

 

[lazy gardener]

My light is on in the evening as well, and the girls are always on the perch before it goes out. I use a 7W CFL.