Lighting Predicament?

[bbowen]

Hi all,

I'm wondering if I'm giving my girls too much light. My girls are 7.5 weeks old. I started them out on a 250w heat lamp. Now that the temp is 60F they seem comfortable not having the heat, so I switched it to a 100w red light.

I've been leaving the lights on 24/7. But in recent reading I found that they should be getting some dark time. I know I can't just shut the light out on them cause they will freak out.

During the day they get light through a big picture window. Today, I shut the red light off during the day and put on a timer. The timer didn't kick on until after dark and they were freaking out.

How do I acclimate them to the dark now? How many hours of light should they be getting. They're for eggs only.

Thanks!

 

[Tikka]

I haven't gotten a red light because they only have 250 W and my fixture is only rated to 100. While I do think dark time might be good for them, they aren't showing signs of stress and nap pretty sweet. There are ways they could escape the light, such as go around the other side of the food and water.

 

[mstricer]

Quote:
Go to home depot or lowes they have 100 wt red lights made by Phillps its called Colortone outdoor flood it works great. I only use the 250 when I move them out to our attached garage because it will be father away from them.