lighting and laying questions

[blueseal]

my flock of 15. 1 and a half year olds have dropped off laying since the time change. i have rhode island reds, barred rocks, white leghorns, cinnamon queens, i noticed this morning there was a egg layed on the roost it was a soft shell egg and there was one on the coop floor that they were eating . my question is should i add light to come on early in the am so they will lay in the nestbox instead of the roost or floor. i added light last year from october till febuary and didnt see much of a diffrence in laying . also have seen alot of people post about the low egg laying in november.

 

[Imp]

Quote:
Adding light is your choice. If you do you will want to increase the day to about 14+ hours. The light won't make them lay in the nestbox. For that try putting fake eggs or golf balls in the nests.
Also shellless eggs and egg eating are seperate issues.

http://www.thepoultrysite.com/publi...ndbook/16/thinshelled-eggs-and-shellless-eggs

Here's something I posted on another thread about egg eating:

There are a few tactics that people have tried with various degrees of success.
Put fake eggs or golf balls in the nests. The idea is that they peck at them get no satisfaction so then move on.
Blow out eggs and fill them with hot mustard, horseradish, or liquid soap. Same idea as above
Darken the nests, block the light, some people put curtains in front of the nests.
Collect often if you can
I had success a few years ago by rearranging the coop. I think I shook up the "norm" a bit.
It took a couple weeks.

Good luck
Imp

 

[alaskachick]

This is my first wintering of chickens. I live in Alaska where right now we only have literally have 7 hours of daylight. Its is not light till 10 am and its dark by 5PM, yes pitch black dark. The temps have been below freezing point and my chickens have done great. No added heat, only a refridgerator type light bulb on most of the time after they get locked in their coop for the nite. Today I got 12 eggs out of 13 chickens. One girls is moulting so that explains the one egg missing. I always get at least 10 eggs daily. Thats 70 eggs a week for 2 people. I have been giving away 3 dozen a week to friends and family. I am convince that my success is due to that little light in the coop. My light brahmas are egg laying machines, and so are the White Leghorns. Their eggs are large. Try the light, it cant hurt.

 

[Robert Blosl]

In about two months the first week or two of Jan I will turn my lights on at about 5 pm and they go off at 9 pm then it gets day light about 6 am and I just use a cheap timer from wall mart to power my 75 watt bulbs. They will start laying good about Feb and I will sell the eggs or chicks then and I keep the chicks for me from March till April 15th to control thier size. Then I will sell the extra eggs till May lst and I shut off the lights till next year. I have done this for about 20 years and works great. bob

 

[NonnasBabies]

Like it was mentioned already a light won't make them lay in the nesting boxes! Yes, putting a light on in the coop will help with egg production! As soon as the time change happened I went from getting 31 eggs a day down to 24. As soon as I put the light on in the coop my egg production jumped back up to 31. Today I actually got 36. That's out of 43 that should be laying and 3 that are getting very close!!

 

[tmoore8595]

Robert,
I assume the reason for waiting until January to start using the light is so your hens will have a chance to molt and rest before starting to lay again. This sounds like a good idea and I will try it next year. My hens are all less than one year old so I have been using a light since the first of October. I got 17 eggs today from 22 hens that are old enough to lay.
I have my light set to come on at 3 A.M. instead of in the evening so they will be able to find the roost without suddenly being left in the dark. Is there an advantage to having the light come on at dusk? I'm just asking which way is best.

 

[bills]

I have my timer set to go on before dawn by about two hours, shuts off at approx 8.30am. (As by then they are usually let out into the run) Then on again at 4.30pm, off again at 9pm.

The light on in the coop as dusk arrives, tends to lure them in a little sooner, which is good, as it gets pretty cold once the sun hides behind the horizon The predators are also starting their rounds. I check my hens once I see they are all out of the run, and close the chicken door. One or two of them will scratch around the coop floor for awhile, but it isn't long before they head for the roost. By the time the timer shuts off, they all appear to be sleeping soundly.

The soft shell eggs don't have anything to do with the light conditions. Sounds more like a diet issue.

 

[Robert Blosl]

Quote:
I raise bantams and if I hatch them out early they are way over weight caused by the climate I live in. Many bantam that are shown and hatced in Jan and Feb are so big they can hardly get around in thier show cage. I just a breeder who shrunk down a R I Red large fowl twetny years ago to a bantam. However, we have large fowl white rocks and we started the lights on them now hoping to get eggs to hatch for Jan and Feb. The earlyer the better for large fowl. If you just want eggs and you dont show them does not make to much difference. Some people work day shifts and some like me work evening shift. I like the idea of the lights coming on befor sun rise. You just got to be around to shut the door at night for varmits. bob

 

[blueseal]

Quote:
i know the light wont cause soft shelled eggs. i was just letting everyone know i got a soft shelled egg layed on the poop board instead of in the nestbox.