Lighting for henhouse at night??

[albyboy24]

Hello,
My chickies are 6 weeks old and ill be putting them in the coop this monday. Does anyone uses lighting for the coop during the night? Since chickens cant see at night i was wondering if putting a little light would be good for them?. Has anyone had this issue before? They are used to have a light on all night and eat during the night too, since i have them inside my house (boujie chickens lol). Last night i put them in the coop for a try out and i went to check on them and they were in a corner without moving, so i grabbed them and put them inside the house again. Should i get like a little battery light or something to have it on at nights? Any advise would be great! Thank you.

 

[Ridgerunner]

You are talking about 6 week old chicks going into the coop for the first time. Not sure if you are just putting them in the coop section only or if you are planning on giving them access to the run at the same time. I assume you have brooded them in your house and they have had constant light. And I assume you do not have any other chickens in that coop so you do not have integration issues.

Chickens do not like change but they are fairly quick to adapt. Some people turn the lights off in the brooder in ever-increasing amounts to adjust them to the dark. Others don't. Typically the first time they are in dark they are upset, but they usually get over this fairly quickly and then go to sleep. When I turn the lights off I let them complain until they quit complaining. This has never harmed the chicks. Sometimes these things are harder on people than they are the chickens.

With broody hens raising chicks I don't worry about any of this. When it gets dark, it gets dark. The hen will take care of them. I imagine it is pretty dark under a broody hen anyway.

Chickens need a certain amount of dark downtime. If they are kept in constant light their egg production can suffer. They tend to have more behavioral problems. I don't worry about that with young chicks, it has never been a problem. But I don't keep lights on 24/7 any longer than I feel there is a need.

I don't know how much natural light you have in your coop, probably from windows. You need enough light for you and your chickens to be able to see what they are doing in there during the day but when it should be dark it should be fairly dark. If you don't have enough natural in there for them to see how to go to bed, they may have going to bed issues. If you have light outside from street lamps or such, it may get too dark inside the coop for them to see before it gets dark enough outside to tell them to go to bed. People have solved these problems when they have them by putting a light inside the coop for a short while when it is getting dark. If they do not have access to the run yet then this is not an issue.

I assume you are not providing any heat. At six weeks they don't need any. When young chicks that are not yet roosting go to sleep they generally sleep in groups. Corners fell like a nice protected place for them. Them choosing to sleep in a group in a corner sounds absolutely normal to me. If they are upset mine give a distress peeping. That distress peeping is easy to recognize, it tears at your soul. Quite different to their normal peeping. If yours are not giving that distressed peeping when the lights go out, they have already adjusted to the dark. Sometimes it is that easy.

 

[jreardon1918]

I use a flashlight to check on the hens at night. Last year i used some light to hasten the sunrise. I waited until after chrustmas and the molt. But it is lights out at night. They have all learned to get on the roost before dark.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

Hello and welcome to BYC! It is really better for the chicks to get used to normal lighting cycles. I wouldn't use supplemental lighting in the evening other than a couple of days during the adjustment period. Supplemental lighting is better when provided for in the early morning.

 

[TexasWineGuy]

Let me add something here. The posters above nailed 2 of the 3 main reasons to have internal lighting: coaxing them into the Coop at dusk, and to help them with a new coop adjustment period.

There is also one more reason to have an internal light source: you want the ability to peek inside the coop at night without having to enter the coop. Never know when some ruckus comes about that prompts you to want to inspect the coop internals.

I use this 10" LED Light for my coop light, and I mounted the switch for it on the outside of the coop, for obvious reasons. This 10" light is more than enough for my 8' x 10' coop.

TWG

 

[NHMountainMan]

I use a headlamp to check them out at night. It has an option of red lighting which is what I use typically to do a headcount. If something is amiss I switch the headlamp to white LED to check out the coop in more detail. And it leaves my hands free.

 

[Mybackyardpeepers]

Good morning and welcome to the BYC flock!!! When I put my silkie chicks out for the first few weeks I used my daughter's owl carry along night light, it had a timer in it and shut off after so long. Once they got used to being put in the coop I stopped using it.

 

[ValerieJ]

Hi! Welcome to BYC!

It's good to have a light to guide them into the coop when it starts getting dark for the first week while they get used to the new digs. After that a light is not necessary.

 

[GC-Raptor]

With my first Flock of Chicks, they were put in the coop at 5 weeks old.
I have electricity in the coop and I used to leave a nightlight on all night.
When they started to lay I noticed bullying after dark two nights.
I then only left the nightlight on till after sunset when all were on the roosts and I locked up the coop.
My second Flock were used to the dark in the brooder.
So the only reason for the nightlight is so they can see to get on the roosts after sunset. . Most are on the roosts after sunset. The hen on the floor is a runt. I have to put her on the roost. Then nightlight is turned off. GC

 

[Ridgerunner]

I guess i would just put that in the coop and turn it on for 30 min once is kinda dark so they can adjust themselves. Is that a good idea?

It won't hurt anything but with that many windows it should be unnecessary.

Do you think is a good idea to keep them in the coop only at night so they get used to it? that way little by little i can open the entry way so they can go out during the day and go in at night?...

I think locking them in the coop at night is a good way to improve predator protection. If you are comfortable your run is predator-proof it's not necessary but to me it is an additional level of protection.

People do this different ways. Some people leave the chicks locked in the coop only for a week or so to try to train them into putting themselves to bed in the coop at night. That does not work for me but it does for some people. We all have different facilities so we get different results.

Some people let the chicks have access during the day to both the coop and run from the start. When it gets dark they often have to put the chicks in the coop and lock it until the chicks learn to go in by themselves. They are usually easy to catch after it gets dark. Sometimes the chicks catch on really quickly but I've had some go three weeks before the last ones finally got the message. Usually it takes me about a week for them to all get the message. I usually have a broody of about 20 chicks.