Lighting in Duck House

[CrystaBub]

@jackoeVogel23 what did you decide???

 

[Tinkindar]

Hi! A light source is necessary at night for the full growth and development of small ducklings, but for adult birds, it is unnecessary if year-round egg laying is not needed.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Even after four years of having ducks i am not sure weather ducks can see in darkness or if they are as blind as a mole!
My ducks have a duck-house with plenty of packages as nesting boxes, straw, hay, dry leaves, basically a duck's paradise and they have their duck-run, exposed to the elements where they have access to water and food 24x7.
For security reasons i have d2d lights around the house and a work-platform side by side to the duck-house and run, so when they are out in the run, they are in a relatively well lightened environment - think like street-lights.

There were always ducks sleeping in the house and ducks sleeping outside in the run.

Then last fall i covered the wall between the duck-house and my work-platform with a dark tarp for more weather protection and as a result all ducks refused to go into the house that evening. They all slept in the run. Assuming that it was too dark inside the house i installed a night-light inside and next evening order was restored. ¾ of the ducks went inside ¼ slept outside.
The inside of the house is divided into a mud-room (at the entrance), a living-room and two bedrooms, accessible from the living-room. The night-light is installed in the living-room, and brightens up the mud-room as well as one of the bed-rooms. What i have observed - i also have a camera in the duck-house - is that it the ducks are trying to sleep in their preferred darkness-zone. Some always sleep in the very dark bed-room while others prefer to sleep in the brighter living-room.

As for the impact on egg-laying: Early spring is the time when my ducks lay most eggs, they lay far less eggs during the high-summer, when the days are the longest. I doubt that a tiny night-light has any measurable effect on a birds egg-laying cycle. - I also have seen what kind of lights are being used to induce egg laying in egg-factories, those lights are as bright as the sun on a clear day and the hens do not sleep when the artificial light are on.

 

[Tinkindar]

Hi! A light source is necessary at night for the full growth and development of small ducklings, but for adult birds, it is unnecessary if year-round egg laying is not needed.

When observing the correct lighting mode, ducklings increase the number of red blood cells, improve metabolism, and accelerate growth. To save the duck house's electricity, I use LEDs interior car lights. But again, this is necessary only for small ducklings. However, I don't think that the duckling's light somehow significantly affected your ducks' health.