I'm at the point of wiring my coop for lighting for the shorter days which are approaching. My plan is to have an outdoor light over the people door and an interior light to facilitate watering, feeding, and also to extend daylight hours for egg laying productivity.
The original plan to keep things simple was to set it up with both interior and exterior lights coming on at dusk and shutting off at about 8 p.m. However, I am concerned that when the light suddenly shuts off in the evening, it'll be too dark for the hens to get on their roosts.
The alternative is to have the lights come on at about 4 am and shut off at daylight, but this will not help when I do the evening checks/chores after returning home from work.
My current plan is to have the automatic lights come on in the evening, and provide a night light that will be on for an hour starting just before main light shutoff. This ought to provide a "twilight" to allow the ladies to roost.
How do BYC'ers who extend daylight hours do it? Does my plan including a night light to "soften" the darkening sound workable?
The original plan to keep things simple was to set it up with both interior and exterior lights coming on at dusk and shutting off at about 8 p.m. However, I am concerned that when the light suddenly shuts off in the evening, it'll be too dark for the hens to get on their roosts.
The alternative is to have the lights come on at about 4 am and shut off at daylight, but this will not help when I do the evening checks/chores after returning home from work.
My current plan is to have the automatic lights come on in the evening, and provide a night light that will be on for an hour starting just before main light shutoff. This ought to provide a "twilight" to allow the ladies to roost.
How do BYC'ers who extend daylight hours do it? Does my plan including a night light to "soften" the darkening sound workable?
