lighting questions/ 2 roosters living with 6 hens?

[NGILBERT88]

I have 6 hens. I have 2 roosters. They are all together in the same coop and run. They seem to be getting along fine. Is this a potential problem?

Also I am about to close in there coop and lock them in at night. I have a timer on their light. It goes off at 11pm and comes back on at 5am. Is it ok for them to be in the dark for those six hours?

I got my first 14 eggs this week. They are all starting to lay. I have only had them for about 2-3wks. I have had the light and started feeding them laying crumbs the last 2 weeks or so.

 

[gritsar]

The only problem I can see with that hen/roo ratio is if they start overmating your hens.

Of course it's fine for them to have that much dark. They sleep better.

 

[cherylcohen]

Quote:
curious as to why you are lighting the coop at all. Hens need a natural down-time in the winter. They will be more productive and be in better shape if you give them a rest. They need 12-14 hours of light to lay well and that naturally occurs in spring/summer

 

[NGILBERT88]

I am using artificial lighting to get eggs. That is just what I read. These chickens were born around mid march. I got them from a guy 11/14 and he said some of the 20-30 hens he had were starting to lay and to start feeding them laying crumbs. I read that they need light to lay. I started feeding them laying food 11/17. I built my laying boxes and put my light in the coop 11/21. I got my first egg 11/22. I have been getting 3 eggs a day for the last 3 days.

I am new to this. any advice would be appreciated.

 

[gritsar]

I don't use light, preferring to give my hens that winter break. My brahmas are good winter layers anyhow, so production only drops off; it doesn't stop completely.

As for the pullets coming into their first winter - it's been my experience that a pullet will lay in her first winter, regardless of whether you add light or not. If you are going to see a slow down it will be in their second winter.

 

[joyous]

I have two roosters with 7 hens, and one hen does get over mated, I bought her a little cape and she is doing fine now. I kind of compromise with the light. I have it on a timer for a couple more hours morning and evening, but more for my convenience doing chores. So they have about 14 hours of light. I also keep a small childrens nightlight that comes on when it is dark just in case I need to go in there late.

 

[Pequena Bandada]

You'll find a lot of people who like adding light and lots who don't. It all comes down to your personal preference. For me, I do add artificial light so that I can continue to get eggs through the winter. To save on your electric bill, you might want to turn the light on just in the AM. Mine comes on at 4:30am and goes off at 7am. Then when the sun starts setting the hens can come in and go to sleep naturally. I was worried that adding light at night might confuse them to where they wanted to stay outside in the yard after dark.

 

[Mattemma]

Overmating is the only problem I see with the ratio.As long as the second roo knows his place there should not be to much fighting.

For the light I never did it,and my red sex link hens(3) gave me 1-3 eggs a day all winter.I cut really small holes in the metal shed wall,and covered with plexiglass. Might be the breed,but I was happy to be getting so many eggs in the winter. I now have some EE's and I don't get eggs every day.I cut 2 more windows in my shed too.