Letting chickens out when using lights

[twigg]

Nobody said there was anything "wrong" with it.

What it sounds like to you, is simply good husbandry to others.

 

[putipa]

For us it is not so urgent to light to keep production up, but to just still get a few eggs in the winter. In the winter here doesn't get light until after 7 am and it's pitch black out by 4:30.

I'm thinking of ordering the green light bulbs that farmtek has.

 

[twigg]

There is NOTHING natural about a modern chickem. They have been selectively bred for hundreds of generations to produce meat, eggs or both.

A natural chicken would lay maybe 30 eggs a year and raise two broods. They would eat ALL year.

Ours can, and will, lay up to 300 eggs per year. To do this they need us to take care of them. They need a first class diet and good housing. They also need additional lighting, or they will quit laying in September, and moult.

They do NOT need to do this, esp. in their first year. There is nothing cruel about this at all, it is simply good management.

Chickens lay eggs, it does not hurt them, and it is perfectly natural. We simply get them to do what they do for longer.

In the meantime, my chickens wander at will, eat what they want, when they want, and spend the night comfortable.

Edited to remove inflamatory remarks. April

 

[Wynette]

I previously chose to not use light, and let nature take its course. However, the last several weeks, I have had a sick pullet in a horse trough not far from my juvenile pen, and I've had a light on her 24/7 since she's in there alone and it's getting quite cold out. My juvies have finally started to lay. I was okay with no eggs until spring from them, but I do have to admit, it's quite a thrill to find eggs in the juvie pen! Hopefully, my sick girl will recover, and then they'll be back to no artificial light and I'll probably kiss my juvie eggs goodbye for the winter. I'm fine with that!

 

[vickig]

Edited to remove reply to inflamatory remarks. April

 

[twigg]

Edited to remove reply to reply...... April

 

[vickig]

And on and on.... Have either of you read the rules? Perhaps you could both reread them. April

 

[Beekissed]

I've never used additional lighting and have always continued to receive eggs throughout the winter. I've always read that letting chickens go through their natural cycle of slowing down in the winter (not stopping all together) will avoid early burn-out. How is it more money efficient to burn your hens out in 2 years, and have to buy more to replace them? I've also read this can lead to hens having more incidence of being eggbound, having reproductive cancers, etc.

My hens are moulting right now and they are still producing at 75%...in full moult.

As for the unnatural chickens produced by years of genetic canoodling...they are still chickens and still do the same things chickens naturally do...hence the need for you to force egg laying by introducing artificial lighting for the winter months.

We aren't criticizing you at all, merely stating our puzzlement as to why someone would force their hens into an unnatural laying cycle and shorten her reproductive lifespan for a few more eggs, unless they were making a wild profit off it.

Edit to remove another reply, and a new flame. April

 

[twigg]

I'm about done here folks. April

 

[Beekissed]

Done, do-bie do done done.... Maybe you can hum that while you review the rules too