Light in the coop?

[ejcrist]

Well.. I replaced the flood light with a small night light and put in a card board huddle box. They were loudly chirping! Stressing me out! It's going to dip to 28 tonight. I'm secretly not going to be able to sleep .... Hope I don't wake up to frozen chicken.

I think you'll be fine. I know mine screamed bloody murder the first night that I took a small heat lamp away, and even though it doesn't get that cold where we're at I was worried too. Now they get mad if I shine a light in the coop at bedtime.

 

[captivatedlife]

I'm going to be in this spot too. We kept a night light on for the girls for the first few nights because they acted crazy when the lights went out and then we started thinking about it- that's not going to happen when they are in the coop, I need to turn it off! City chickens are coddled.... Or at least compared to their wild counterparts!

 

[Intheswamp]

Regarding lighting, there is more to lighting "than meets the eye". It has a significant influence on reproduction/laying health of hens. There are a couple of links in this (old) short thread that might be a useful read, the article at the University of Maine is very good... Autumn hatched chicks....an article on lighting and maturing pullets

As for reducing heat over chicks, the often used tactic is to have the brooder lamp hanging by a chain and each week raise the lamp a bit to reduce the temperature at ground/litter level. A cheap thermometer lying on the litter can be helpful. As azygous illustrated, temperature is decreased in steps. The idea is to let the chicks figure out how far away or close to the lamp they want to be...they should be pretty much self-regulating. The chicks should be a good indicator of how you're doing in adjusting the height. This is a pretty good (basic) article with good drawings of how to the "read" the chick's response to the heat lamp. How Much Heat Should Baby Chicks Have?

By six weeks the chicks should be fairly capable of handling things on their own. If you still feel that "some" heat needs to be in their vicinity then you might consider something like a paint can w/lid and a 40 or 60 watt light bulb inside...hang it in close (but not too close) to the roost...will put off heat and give off a tiny bit of light if you provide a couple of small vents. Just a thought.

Best wishes,
Ed

 

[Intheswamp]

Something to consider, too, is not to simply turn their lights out at night. Chickens naturally "go to roost" when the light stars to fade (whether it is a huddle in the run or perched on a roost). They're just wired that way. Having plenty of light and then suddenly going to darkness can panic/stress them...the gradual dimming of natural light in the evening is what starts their pea-brains telling them to go to bed. Using natural light in the evening to send them to roost is the best option. If you need to extend their light hours then having lighting coming on in the morning time before sunrise would be better...sudden light coming on a bit earlier than normal isn't as startling to them. Imagine ourselves happily nibbling at a piece of lettuce at night while reclined in our easy chair and someone pulls the main breaker in the breaker box...kind of startles us like "HEY! anybody got a flashlight??!...what happened!!??". Now imagine yourself lying in bed, a bit earlier than your usual wake-up time and somebody comes into the room and flips the light on...it's really not a panic and doesn't really startle us but more like "huh, what's up, yawn...is it time to get up?". Chickens are kinda like that, too....except they don't have easy chairs like we do.

That Bulletin #2227 linked to in the referenced thread above is really worth the reading.

Ed

 

[ChickTree]

An update here... We weaned them off the light over the course of several days and now they are great they've even doubled in size. It's cute to see them out themselves to bed. They were fine even in the 25 degree nights.

 

[azygous]

I just read through that Bulletin #2227. It's sponsored by a feed corporation and it's very slick and colorful. But that doesn't necessarily mean you can trust all of the information to be accurate and safe.

It has some good points, but at the end where they recommend two lamps and covering the brooder with cardboard that information is not accurate or necessarily safe. And they leave a lot of necessary information out, indicating that the author is not an experienced in chick brooding, but is merely reproducing incomplete information with the goal in mind to get the company product name out there.

You do not want two heat lamps as that will overheat the brooder, and it's not necessary, in spite of any remote possibility of light bulb failure. And anything placed over the top of the brooder that does not allow heat and humidity to escape is not a good thing. In fact, keeping heat in the brooder will simulate an oven, and it's the farthest thing away from the environment chicks need.

Any heat guide that does not also include the information that the space in the brooder except directly beneath the heat source should be a good twenty degrees cooler is doing people and their baby chicks a disservice. Chicks need a place in which to rid their bodies of excess heat, and if the entire brooder is an "oven", this proves to be impossible, and the result is overheating and sick chicks.

Keeping the whole brooder a uniform temperature robs the chicks of the ability to wean themselves off heat and to efficiently feather out in a timely manner. In fact, chicks who have cool ambient temperatures wean themselves off heat in half the time of chicks who do not have the advantage of cooler temperatures during their first month.

Information bulletins such as this one are designed to sell feed and light bulbs not help chick owners raise healthy chicks. Please be skeptical when you see a corporate name on anything of this nature.