Yes, I know that Silkies are not bred for their egg laying abilities....so maybe this does not apply, if so...let me know that too.. Upgraded coop and run and I have read that chickens need between 13-16 hours of sunlight a day to produce eggs. Coming into (fall) winter, we are running about 10 hours a day of daylight, in California where the winter average nighttime temperature will be about 42 and daytime about 53 and the daylight will be about 6 hours a day up to December and 4 hours a day through spring. So...I want to have lighting in the new coop to replace sunlight and would prefer to go LED, not using it to heat the coop, it is insulated... Question is, is there a wattage requirement to replace daylight? or is it a lumen thing? and what (degree) of lumen is needed to simulate daylight? and...does the color of the light matter? I now have an led rope light strung around the rafters...and the default color is "green"...which I have to switch over to "white"..... Does wattage, lumens or color matter to chickens? Or only if they have an advanced degree? haha Ideas?
oh I see...wattage is related to lumens.....so, does the color of the light matter? does it need to be an actual "daylight" color range to simulate real daylight? or just a bulb (in my case LED) that glows light and chickens don't care the color? I'm glad my wife can't see this post....
Any white light should so the trick...avoid older florescent fixtures as the flicker rate will disturb the birds. It just needs to be bright enough for them to move around and eat/drink....or for us 'to read a news paper'. You're not really 'simulating daylight' as much as shortening the dark cycle. Ramping the light up slowly is important, any drastic abrupt change in lighting can have adverse effects. Timers are essential and I prefer to light only in the mornings so they go to roost with the natural sunset. Here's a pretty good article on supplemental lighting.
