There is no way to make an accurate general statement.
Some chickens, especially from high-performance production lines and especially pullets in their first winter of laying, may not need any supplemental light (like, unless you live WAY far north where three hours of daylight is simply not enough to allow them to *eat* enough). I can tell you that the original ISA browns I had pretty much did not skip a day all winter the first year (shortest day is about 8 hrs of daylight, and effective day length is somewhat shorter than that in my rear pens), and my three EE's remained at probably 80-90% production their first winter. OTOH my sussexes do take a coupla months off even if it's their first year of lay. So it depends.
My suggestion would be to not light your pullets this winter and see what happens. Then next year you can decide what mood you're in
If you do add light, all you need is enough to read a newspaper by at chicken level (roughly), and there is no reason at all to add it morning AND night. Many people prefer to add it all in the pre-dawn hours because most lights also give you a nonzero *heat* boost in the coop and that's the time of day the chickens can most appreciate it. But, you can do it pretty much any way you like, it is not like it matters hugely as far as I can tell (since people DO do it all possible ways
)
Good luck, have fun,
Pat
Some chickens, especially from high-performance production lines and especially pullets in their first winter of laying, may not need any supplemental light (like, unless you live WAY far north where three hours of daylight is simply not enough to allow them to *eat* enough). I can tell you that the original ISA browns I had pretty much did not skip a day all winter the first year (shortest day is about 8 hrs of daylight, and effective day length is somewhat shorter than that in my rear pens), and my three EE's remained at probably 80-90% production their first winter. OTOH my sussexes do take a coupla months off even if it's their first year of lay. So it depends.
My suggestion would be to not light your pullets this winter and see what happens. Then next year you can decide what mood you're in
If you do add light, all you need is enough to read a newspaper by at chicken level (roughly), and there is no reason at all to add it morning AND night. Many people prefer to add it all in the pre-dawn hours because most lights also give you a nonzero *heat* boost in the coop and that's the time of day the chickens can most appreciate it. But, you can do it pretty much any way you like, it is not like it matters hugely as far as I can tell (since people DO do it all possible ways
Good luck, have fun,
Pat
