Lighting in Coop

[Smf0723]

YOU DO NOT WANT YOUR CHICKENS TO LAY EGGS IN THE WINTER IT SHORTENS THIER LIVES!!!!!!

 

[MamaRudey]

YOU DO NOT WANT YOUR CHICKENS TO LAY EGGS IN THE WINTER IT SHORTENS THIER LIVES!!!!!!

Um no. It shortens their production life. In other words how long they will lay eggs.

 

[MamaRudey]

I go out at 5am and turn my yard light on and feed, water and let the girls loose. Sun comes up around 7 and I shut it off then. Around 5pm I turn the yard light on and leave it on till I go to bed around 8 or 9. The girls put themselves to bed around dusk but the ducks are late night party animals so the evening light is more for them. I don't use the lights for upping my production, more just keeping my established routine.

 

[Smf0723]

I go out at 5am and turn my yard light on and feed, water and let the girls loose. Sun comes up around 7 and I shut it off then. Around 5pm I turn the yard light on and leave it on till I go to bed around 8 or 9. The girls put themselves to bed around dusk but the ducks are late night party animals so the evening light is more for them. I don't use the lights for upping my production, more just keeping my established routine.

ummmm well i was told by my local chicken store that it will shorten THIER LIVES

 

[Imp]

There isn't a more studied animal than chickens, and there is no evidence that lighting either shortens their production or their lives. Chickens have potentially tens of thousands of eggs in their ovaries, not likely to run out. You don't need to believe me, just google for information.
Often pullets will start or continue laying during their first winter. I've had pullets start laying in December a couple of times.
There are really little pros or cons to lighting, it's just personal choice.

http://www2.ca.uky.edu/afspoultry-files/pubs/Anatomy_Female_reproductive.pdf

Imp

 

[Den in Penn]

I often wonder that giving them a longer day it just allow them to optimize their laying potential. Allowing them when younger to lay the most they can. And then when they get older and naturally slow down it seems as if they have been burnt out.

 

[5th lake chick]

lots of info-do you light to get your pullets to start laying in winter? Very good link. Thanks

 

[rachele30]

Yes they do need 12-14 hours of light to lay. Actually, my hens have always continued to lay all through winter. They stop laying around the end of September and start again in the first week of November. This is also the time of year that they molt. They have always done this regardless of lighting, natural or artifical. I do use lighting only in the coldest of winter for supplemental heat only if the temperatures get below freezing which is normally the end of December through January and sometimes into February. I still have a handful of hens that I have had since the beginning of my flock which are 9 years old now and are still laying like clockwork, 2 easter eggers, 4 australorp, 2 black orpingtons, 2 blue orpingtons and 4 buff orpingtons and 2 speckled sussex. They all have started laying again last week without lighting at all. It is getting daylight around 7:00 am and gets dark by 6:30.

 

[cheflora]

You've made your point, SMF. Several times.

 

[gypsy5583]

I have a 125w brooder lamp in my coop, its up high and I am mainly using it for security not warmth. I am new to this. I dont turn the light on till after dusk. I have 4 hens and a rooster. They are roosting fine in the evening , but when I go out to check on them before I go to bed my americanas are standing up. Is This normal. Are they resting or is the light disrupting them. The other 3 hens are sitting a look like they are resting comfortably.