New pullets, night lights advice?

[MiaS]

I have just about ready to lay pullets and I'm wondering if I must have additional light in the coop for their first winter? I don't care so much about getting maximum egg production for their first winter and can't help but wonder if it is just better to let them have a natural low light winter?

Here in the North we will only get about 8-9 hours of daylight mid-winter. After reading @Alaskan's article about surviving winter suggesting that birds need 10 hours just to get enough food, I'm now second guessing.

 

[C. Conner]

Okay, so would I be okay just adding a few hours at night time or do I need to even it out and add light in the morning hours as well? If I can do dusk + a few hours then I can use the Lowes one ( I think) which screws on to my existing overhead lamp with a CFL or an LED bulb

I have remote control switches I ordered from Amazon by my back door. I have a hanging small florescent work light I leave in the coop and have installed a lot of small white Christmas lights under the roof of their covered run. When I get up around 7 am I turn on their lights and go let them out so they can get to food and water. Later I turn the lights off. At night before it gets dark I turn their lights on and leave them on until I close the coop at 10 pm. I have had a steady supply of eggs for over a year. This also gives me light without using a flash light when I am letting them out or closing them up. It takes effort on my part but this system works for me.

 

[MiaS]

I have remote control switches I ordered from Amazon by my back door. I have a hanging small florescent work light I leave in the coop and have installed a lot of small white Christmas lights under the roof of their covered run. When I get up around 7 am I turn on their lights and go let them out so they can get to food and water. Later I turn the lights off. At night before it gets dark I turn their lights on and leave them on until I close the coop at 10 pm. I have had a steady supply of eggs for over a year. This also gives me light without using a flash light when I am letting them out or closing them up. It takes effort on my part but this system works for me.View attachment 1891107

And it looks pretty too

 

[wyoDreamer]

My DH wired an outlet into the coop when he was beginning his barn re-wiring project. We plugged a 4' long, LED shoplight into a vacation timer and plugged that into the outlet. It turns the light on at 5 am and off at 8am, then on at 6 pm and off at 9. The outlet is 6 feet up and is also there for the heater for the waterer. Since it is LED, it is very low on power consumption and I use it year-round. I change the timer in spring and fall to match the time change, but that is all I do for it - besides cleaning it off every couple of months.
Since it is always the same amount of light every day, there is nothing for the birds to get used to. I figure, they are originally tropical birds, and I don't think the tropics have much change in daylight hours from season to season, so no big deal for them.

 

[Folly's place]

For supplemental winter lighting, it needs to come on in the early morning hours, and go off after daylight. Here, it's 3am or 4am to 8am every day. At night they need normal twilight to roost. The birds need darkness too, not a light that's on all night.
Timers turn up at stores near the outdoor holiday light displays; that's where I got mine. Make it simple!
I have a light hanging from the rafter, and either 40w or 60w is plenty, depending on the size of the coop. Dim light! Make sure it's warm white, and SAFE out there.
Mary

 

[aart]

We have a mild climate (average winter lows in the 40s and 30s, with rare 20s) and good ventilation.

It's not about temperatures, it's about the length of day.

I mostly just want to do my morning coop chores before leaving for work, without having to fumble around in the dark.

Get yourself a headlight, best tool I ever bought and an essential(IMO) for all chickeneers.

 

[Kee11]

It's not about temperatures, it's about the length of day.

I was just noting the temperature because someone said chickens need light to eat more if they are in a cold climate.

 

[Kee11]

Just curious, why do you have a pop door on a timer when your run is secure?

Well, I guess I should have said "relatively" secure! We live out in the country and have a lot of predators, including black bears, coyotes, foxes and weasels. We hope the run is secure against flying, digging and climbing predators, but would rather not put it to the test at night. The coop itself is much more secure, plus it's raised a couple feet off the ground, which helps. My boyfriend works outdoors during the day and is around the yard a lot, so we never have predators around during the day, except the flying kind, but at night we just have the motion lights to deter predators, so we have the pop door close at night for extra security.

 

[wyoDreamer]

The light in the coop goes off at 8:30. Pop, instant dark, lol.
If I go out to check on them at 8:00 or so, they are milling around, snacking, telling tales at the water cooler or whatever it is that chickens do. When I go out at 8:15 or later, they are on the roosts. Sometimes standing looking around, sometimes settled down and ready to sleep or a combination of both. Somehow they know that the light will go off at 8:30 and they are ready that that time.
I have one chicken that insists on roosting on the handle of the gutter feeder that I use. She had done that for 2 years. She is there at 8:15 and ready to sleep - all alone.

 

[woodmort]

I provide food, water and housing for my chickens, in turn I expect them to repay me with eggs. To that end I want them to lay in the winter months so I have lighting in my coop, I have 2 rooms, each has a 20w florescent light--the kind that go under a kitchen cabinet--on the ceiling. Each is attached to a double timer--they go on/off twice a day. They are set to go on at 6 am/off at 9 and again on at 6 pm /off at 10. This give the birds 13 hrs of light. I leave them on this schedule for 365 days--assuming the power doesn't go off, in which case I have to reset everything--so for part of the year they are redundant. I feel this extra light, especially in the morning gets them laying, while the evening ones get them eating longer (I will toss in some mixed grain scratch in the evenings during the winter months). I also find that the lights being on in the evening gives them a target for coming to roost.

Now there are some that feel the extra light, by forcing the chickens to lay, will burn them out. My feeling is there are a certain number of eggs that a hen will lay so whether you get them sooner or later is up to you.