Light in Winter for Egglaying?

[sophiaw00]

I have put a light in the coop for egg laying over the winter. There hasn't been any increase in egg laying though. They were laying 6-8 a day and now I'm getting 3. Is there anything I can do to fix this? If not, it's not a big deal. Any tips would be greatly appreciated

 

[Spartan22]

How long do you keep your supplement light? And when do you have it to turn on and off? And when did you start putting the lights on?
Layers need 12-14 hours of daylight to trigger egg laying and might take weeks to amped after the shortened day lights.

 

[aart]

How old are you birds? They may be molting.

The light takes time to have an effect on the pineal gland that controls hormones.....
.......and duration of lighting should be ramped up slowly or it can cause stress.

Older layers need 14-16 hours of light to lay regularly thru winter. Mine comes on early in the morning to provide 14-15 hours of light and they go to roost with the natural sundown. I started ramping my light up back in early Sept, but my yearlings still almost all are molting now.

The light should be increased slowly, a drastic and abrupt change in lighting can cause stress and undesired consequences.

Here's a pretty good article on supplemental lighting. Some folks think that using lighting shortens the years a hen will lay, I don't agree with that theory but I also plan to cull my older hens for soup at about 3 years old.

 

[sophiaw00]

The light has been on for abouth a week and a half so I'll give it a while. It comes on in early morning and then again at dusk to give them a total of 14 hours of light. They are 30 weeks old.

Thanks for the article!

 

[Mutt Farm]

Hi!

you might consider gradually increasing the hours of light in the am and not using light in the evening. That allows for natural roosting at night. It's the dusk that compels the hens to roost. It can be stressful for them to suddenly be in darkness trying to roost. Best of luck to you!

 

[Spartan22]

Hi!   you might consider gradually increasing the hours of light in the am and not using light in the evening. That allows for natural roosting at night. It's the dusk that compels the hens to roost. It can be stressful for them to suddenly be in darkness trying to roost. Best of luck to you!  

2x

 

[eleaserek]

It took just about 4 weeks for the light to make a difference for us. I have a Easter egger who had completely stopped, and a couple others who had slowed. It was almost 4 weeks to the day I started getting pretty blue eggs again! Our timer turns the lights on at 330am, works like a charm.

 

[sophiaw00]

I just changed the timer to turn on at 4 AM, but left the evening turn-on also. I will slowly decrease the time it is on in the evening. Most of my girls have completely stopped except for my EEs, a faverolle, and I get the occasional marans egg.