Have 8 Rhode Island Reds in a small 4x6 foot coop and a 4x6 foot outside pen.No roosters. Have tried lighting in the morning and evenings to give 14 hours a day for lighting and found they where caught on the ground in the coop when the lights went out this is not natural for them as they should be roosting. Changed lighting to only early morinng , 3;30 the lights go on and stay on till 8;30 , The birds are on there roost at night when the sun goes down and egg production jumped immediately back to 7 or 8 eggs per day. Also this is the coldest part of the night so a 100 watt bulb heats the coop and keeps the water from freezing and the birds comfortabele, I spoil my birds with plenty to eat , they always have crumbles available and get treats like tomatoes , peppers, lettuce, pumpkins from the garden and anything else they want that I have extras of including weeds. Always fresh water and a clean coop with pine shavings. My birds are happy and have different colored plastic bands on there right foot, so they all have names like yellow bird, blu bird, etc .I have 3 nests in the coop but they all seem to like only one . And I love to collect the eggs.and eat them.
