lighting help

[ilikechickens10]

Hi! This is my first post, and I was wondering if anyone knew if a standard infrared heating lamp secured to the roof of their coop is sufficient for regular laying. The sun goes up at 7ish am and i want to keep the light on full until 9:30 then use an automatic dimmer to mimic a sunset in their coop. Sidenote: Will the dark red light stop them pecking at eggs? I have a hen who likes to mess with and try to open the ceramic eggs in the nesting boxes. I try to collect every hour or so to keep her from this, but I've lost a few eggs to her already.

 

[Debbie292d]

Hi, and welcome to BYC!

First, I'm not sure why you'd use a heat lamp for light if all you want is light. If you're thinking they need heat, they'd need it at night more than day. Otherwise, you're using a lot of electricity just to give them a couple of extra hours of light. I would find an LED bulb to put in there and it would cost just pennies instead of dollars. What wattage depends on the size of your coop and distance. I'd assume in my 5'x12' coop, a 50 to 75-watt equivalent LED would work. You may need more or less.

I've never heard of anyone using a red light to stop egg eating, but maybe I just missed it. What I have heard works is putting curtains on the nest boxes to make it dark. They can't peck what they can't see. Others have poked holes in a couple of eggs and blown them out, then filled with mustard. Chickens do not like mustard.

 

[SourRoses]

To induce laying you want a yellow or white light.
It does not need to be very bright. And there is no purpose to it being on during daylight hours, unless the hens are locked inside without windows or a run.

What I use is a solar string light, about $27 on Amzn. It comes on at dusk and has a built-in timer shutoff a few hours later.
The light is dim enough they can relax and sleep.
There are many versions of the same thing, so you can pick a style that suits you. I recently got a second string of a different model for the other coop. It looks cuter with little globe lights, but it doesn't have as short a timer so it turns off after 6 hours. At first I thought that wasn't going to be okay, but the light gradually dims as the evening progresses and the solar charge wears down, so it's actually working out just fine.