Light in coop - required?

[luvmygirlsinAK]

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Glad to see someone else has a humor!!!

 

[Omniskies]

Not to stir the pot, but production hens aren't sold at 18 months because of non-stop light. They're sold at that time because it's not cost effective to keep a hen through a molt when they'll be laying fewer eggs after the molt.

Production Leghorns burn themselves out and, if I remember right, aren't kept under light 24/7. Even your regular hybrids have a tendency to burn themselves out - their bodies can't take producing eggs that often for that long. The light doesn't burn them out - how they've been bred does.

I'm not advocating that light be put on or not. I haven't seen any evidence that light harms a chicken and I haven't seen any evidence that it helps a chicken. Light is put on so we get more eggs. In some areas light is put on so people _get_ eggs (ie. Alaska, where chickens lay ice cream

.

Instead of posting rumors, why not have people cite things to back up a strong belief? Citing shouldn't count if it's from a biased source. A biased source would be someone who rescues battery hens or the factory farms themselves. We know batter hens go through a rough time of it. The lighting isn't necessarily why.

I got my original information from the "How It's Made" show about how eggs get to the grocery store. As a reference, if you check Google you should be able to find a video clip to watch.

However, while trying to find information on this, I found an article that rocks my face off. It's a study on the effects of natural and artificial light on the body. I was going to quote a few bits in the article, but the more I read the more I want to quote. The part about blacklights increasing the overall health of the staff at a restaurant to pink lights causing irritability (and red lights may lead to cannibalism

.

Here is one little quote:

The animal experiments described are more specific, and the effects of poor light varied from infertility, congenital defects, all male litters, to falling hair, shrivelled tails, dental cavities and so on. And for years the poultry industry has known and used the fact that light received by a fowl's eyes stimulates the pituitary gland and increases egg production.

I must get the book from this article.

Edit:

Gah, I got so wrapped up in the article I forgot to link to it:

http://www.soilandhealth.org/02/0201hyglibcat/020121horne/020121ch18.html​

 

[I'm Rik]

I didn't read all the post here so this may be redundant, but I'm chiming in anyway.

See, we have a second hand adult leghorn that wouldn't lay. I read this tread and decided to add a (red) light to extend the daylight. It only took six days for her to lay.

 

[waynesgarden]

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Not an unreasonable request and one that I often ask myself.

Wayne

 

[luvmygirlsinAK]

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Well, not wanting to look "cool" my chickies don't wear sunglasses, or glasses either, for that matter, so all the health benefits that come from sunning themselves in front of the full spectrum bulbs in the coop must be the reason my babies are so happy!!!

(And here I thought it was mostly the gourmet treats I gave 'em!!!)

Even the red lights we use are flourescent, must be the right kind of flourescent as well according to that article, or else they'd be eatin' each other!!

Lordy, I could never stand for that! I wouldn't get enough of my ice cream eggs to make bread with!!!

Ever tasted ice cream bread, anyone?! (Don't knock it til you've tried it!!!)

Although the article said that red light produced cannibalism, I found that to be very strange since it seems to be well known that red light creates a calming affect in chickens and stops pecking. I always make sure the red lights are on when we put a new chicken in the coop so she doesn't get pecked, while the new pecking order is established-never had a problem with canniblism!!!!

Course maybe they're too busy trying on bathing suits to soak up all that good stuff from the full spectrum bulbs!!

Of course I've known for years of the benefits of sunshine, (or in this case our full spectrum light bulbs) and will not use a sunblock when I lay out in the sun to get my tan for the whole summer in May every year-yes, I said May!!!

(Yes, it get's in the 90's up here in the summer-my chickens don't always lay ice cream-Omniskies!!!) Course, I just might need to buy them all a pair of sunglasses in the summer with 24 hours of daylight, either that or else go with the curtains in their coop!!!

 

[gritsar]

Omniskies, just for the record. My SO's family was in the commercial chicken business for approx. 40 years.
I don't have time to sit around tracking down sources on the internet to use over here on BYC.
I have a life, which includes taking care of my chickens.
Raise your chickens however you see fit. Makes no diff to me.

 

[Omniskies]

That article isn't geared specifically for birds. Red lights may be fine for chickens but generally make people want to nibble on one another. I'm not sure - I'm really interested in looking up a book or two on it at work tomorrow to see if I can find out more about how lighting (sun/artificial/colored) affects living stuff.

Google's awesome. A ten minute search is usually all that's needed to find something nifty to cite. I sort of got distracted while I was browsing but I'm glad I did.

If someone has enough time to groove on BYC and has very strong opinions/beliefs about something - so strong that right is right and wrong is abusive - then I think they should carve out a little time to cite a reference. If you don't care how someone else raises their birds (which is perfectly fine) then there's no reason to cite references.

It's just mind boggling that people will say things like they're gospel and get upset when anyone contradicts them without backing up a reputable source.

And I'm sure at least half of the people commenting on this thread have a life, which includes taking care of their chickens. Even if they leave the realm of BYC on occasion to browse Google

 

[dancingbear]

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Sometimes a person's "reputable source" is their own personal experience. I often share my own personal experience. Sometimes it's just common sense. Then somebody wants me to prove I'm telling the truth. I could spend my whole day searching for sources to cite to prove every word I say. I'm not going to. If disproving what somebody else says is so important to somebody else, they can look it up themselves.

You can often find many sources of incorrect info by Google, as well. I've found all kinds of nonsense. Just because it's posted on the internet doesn't make it true. Sometimes wrong conclusions are drawn from studies, too. so that's not always the end-all of info, either.

If you try something, and it works, you can usually believe it's true, unless it's a fluke, or a coincidence. If you try it many times, and it works, you're probably onto something.

If you try something and it doesn't work, the information may be wrong, or you may not be very good at following directions. Or it may work in some circumstances, but not others.

You can get good ideas to try on a forum like this. If something doesn't work out for you, don't use it. If something sounds dangerous, or too expensive, or just plain foolish, you might not want to try that particular thing.

Bottom line, use your own judgment, and some common sense, if you have any.

 

[ssteiner]

Wow! I didn't expect to spark such a debate with my little question! Anyway, my coop will remain light free, but if I only had a few hours of light a day (instead of 10, in the dead of winter) I'd consider one, too. Thanks for all the input...

-Scott

 

[waynesgarden]

Doesn't take much to spark a debate, Scott, especialy for those of us up here in the frozen north with little else to do.

Good luck with your birds.

Wayne