Lighting for henhouse at night??

[albyboy24]

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.

Correct! All your assumptions are right on lol

 

[albyboy24]

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 have 5 windows on the coop. 3 on the back, one on the front and one on the side. As long as there is sun light there is plenty of light inside for them to see. I just bought one LED light that is remote controlled and it has timers of 5 to 2 hours. 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?

 

[albyboy24]

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 have them on the run during the day and at night i put them on the coop and lock the entry way so they cant go down. As you said ive had them on my house full time and they are use to full time lighting at night only not during the day tho. 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?...

 

[TinaMarieofFL]

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.

I have a light in the pen area to keep the rats from coming in to scavenge left over food. If not for the rats, I wouldn't have a light out there.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I have 5 windows on the coop. 3 on the back, one on the front and one on the side. As long as there is sun light there is plenty of light inside for them to see.

If there's ample natural light I would not add any lighting at night. Ideally you want them to go in at dusk, get on the roost, and stay there.

While they're adjusting to their new setting they may be confused and need help getting in at dusk, or may make distressed sounds. Don't let it upset you, that's completely normal as they learn to make the adjustment.

 

[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.

 

[RavalliSurfer]

The coop I built is a fortress and I believe it to be absolutely rodent-proof. Bears however, may be a problem, and we do have blacks and grizzlies in the area.

I made the latches raccoon proof and I know that nothing short of a bear or Sasquatch can lift the roof either. The chickens are really safe.

I have installed, but never used a red LED light in the coop - but I did use a heatlamp for a couple of days to wean the chicks off a heat source. For the winter - which starts any day now - I'll put in a paintcan heater of about 30Watts.

Right now I have about 4 inches of bedding of straw that I baled myself, with my own tractor running a flatbelt baler. We take the food out when the birds gets locked in for the night, and we remove the hanging water dispenser to wash and refill it in the AM when we let them out again.

4 birds and 4 eggs a day must mean that we're doing something right.

I'm thinking of cutting half of the entry ramp off so the birds can hop on or off it.

 

[AllenK RGV]

I'm not going to try to get into the heads of my chicken, however, I do have one feral chicken who sleeps in my trees next to two LED 8w spotlights, so it seems she prefers to see at night. My 1 day old reared and brooded chicken all use natural light cycles and are a dream as I do not need to do a thing for them on a daily basis other than provide water. They feed themselves foraging the yard and fly over their 6 ft hurricane fence to roost at night. The feral chicken is just as easy and they all lay in boxes on my porch so I don't have to go far for eggs.

 

[Betsy57]

I have a night light for my hens just so they can see if they need to. I have a timer to go on at 5 am and off at 10 pm. With my chicks I leave the lights on for about 2 months then start the night light with them. It is usually a scary thing for them to be in the dark (with just the night light) but they get used to it quickly by that age.

 

[baasanders]

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.

I used a little flashlight the size of a pen until they started going in on their own, after that, I took the light away.