Light in the Coop at Night??

[youthpastor]

hmmm. my chickies only go into the coop when it starts to get dark. I don't have a light in there so by the time they're settled its darker in the coop than out.

 

[keeperofthehearth]

We have a timer for our girls in the main coop but the coop is really secure. Our shed has all our young'ns in it and it isn't as predator proof & will be near impossible to do so. No windows so very dark unless there is a light. I'm thinking to leave a "low watt night light" on all night on the off chance some critter with bad intensions gets in there. The light may give the girls a chance to see their attacker and get out of the way. They are just young'ns so no concern at this time with mess'n with their reproductive systems.

 

[CoyoteMagic]

hmmmm. Never had a light in my coop. I've got a skylight in the top of my roof so I don't have to provide artificial light in the winter. My birds come and go with the sun. When it starts to get dark outside, they pput themselves to bed.

 

[Cetawin]

Well I would not want to climb into a dark box when I cannot see what is waiting for me....I am giving my girls a night light to see their way around and in the winter an extra light to extend the daylight hours for them.

 

[ginbart]

I have my chickens in the bottom of the barn. I just moved them yesterday so I could move the 3 week olds out. There is no electric in the barn so I can’t have a light. I wonder if I could get a solar light for inside?

 

[Chirpy]

I think the key here is to not have a light on inside the coop after the sun goes down. If the chickens are outside and the sun goes down and they can still see the light from inside they may not realize it's time to go in for the night. So, they stay outside messing around ... then, all of a sudden the night lite goes out and they are in complete darkness. They can't see and don't know where to go. If they are allowed to use the sun as their clock they will know when to put themselves away for the night.

If you are going to use a night lite then you need to put the chickens away yourself before the light goes out OR don't turn the light on until after all the chickens have put themselves away for the night.

Most people that use a light to stimulate egg laying through the winter months have the light come in in the early morning hours and don't use it in the evening. In other words they add the extra light in the morning for the girls to wake up to.

Just as a side note .... I'm with the thought that chickens should be given a 'rest' during the winter months and not 'forced' into egg laying through the use of artificial light. By using lots of windows you can keep up pretty good laying and still give your girls some rest. Obviously, many people use lights to stimulate egg laying ... it's totally a personal thing.

 

[ginbart]

When I moved my chicks outside about 4 weeks ago it was cold so I had the heat lamp out there for them. I would turn it on at night and they would walk in. But after a couple of weeks I tried to keep the light out and they wouldn't go in. They just snuggled close together outside. I had to turn the light back on for them to go in.

 

[Texas Fluffy Feet]

When my girls moved to the coop, they got a night light for awhile. Actually, they had never spent a night in the dark so when it was time for the red heatlight to go off I replaced it with a 25 watt red bulb. I think they still associated the light with heat though even though the red bulb was 3' away and not producing heat. After a week or so of the light being on I noticed them not sleeping on their roost and actually going to the darkest corner of the coop. I got the message and turned off the light. They seem to do fine going into the coop without it now. I guess there must be enough Moonlight for them to see too for a midnight snack because their food and water is always lower in the morning.

 

[CoyoteMagic]

I pulled the small doghouse coop out of my small run last night in hopes the 11 week olds would go in and roost with the "Big Girls" in the main coop. (They have been mixing together now for about a month)They were a little confused at first but everyone was roosted in the main coop before the sun was completely down.

 

[drliz]

I have a Chick n Barn by Ware with 6 chickens Does anyone know if I can put some kind of light in there or is it too small? My girls have all decided to stop laying! The barn is 4x4x3.
Thanks