Light on or off?

[cravenchx]

Still training my girls to come
in to the coop at twilight. I turn
the light on inside the coop to let them
see where they should be. They are not
yet laying, should I leave the light on at
night? Should I leave it on when they start
laying?

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

They only need extra light in the Winter

 

[KDK1]

You only need extra light when the days get shorter if you want to fool your chickens into laying more eggs... I personally don't use this method.
I'm not in it for profit.

 

[kevs-chickadees]

IF you decided to give extra light during winter months, I personally wouldn't leave it on all night. I thought I read somewhere 14 hour of light? Anyone?

 

[KDK1]

Quote:
You are correct!

 

[cravenchx]

So, as a nervous new mom of 14 beautiful
chickens, I don't need to turn it on to lure
them in the coop?

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Your birds should be comfortable enough with their coop to want to go in at night. It's their natural instinct. That being said, on warm nights they love to roost on top of it

We add light when civil twilights are 12 hours apart. For us in Northern NH that's Oct. 15th when sunrise is 6:33 am to sunset at 6:35 pm. Using a multi switch timer and 13 w cool white energy bulb we have light for few hours in am then again in pm to make 12 hours total. Our hens didn't miss a beat in laying last winter with this method.

 

[Nicole01]

We won't use any extra light until the girls are locked in the coop with -20F temps outside. I don't have any windows in our coop with our door closed to the outside. All our ventilation is in our garage. We needed the light and will turn it on only during the sunlight hours.

 

[brahmakid11]

i do not think you need the light that much

 

[turtlebird]

Quote:
You are correct!

I only add light in the morning so the ladies go to roost with the natural sunset. That way they aren't caught wandering around when a light would turn off at night. This ofcourse means that they are up quite early with the MN winter light timer

It is a little extra work, always turning the timer back - and then forwards after winter solstice. But, it works.