Nightlight In Coop For Visibility?

[tnt-ranch]

Hi all! Is it bad to Light up the inside of a coop so our 4 pullets can see at night? I bought a string of tiny solar powered yellowish LEDs and kept them wound into a tiny wreath and hung them inside the coop. It's a small prefab coop so it lights it up pretty well inside. They automatically come on at dusk so it's great for getting the girls into the coop but I think it stays on til first light and I'm worried it might interrupt their natural sleep cycle. I've read a lot of threads here about lights in the coop but they all seemed focused on egg production and that's not what I'm worried about as mine are just pets and eggs are a bonus. What do you think?

To give you some context I included pics below of my setup and the light type. We are in Southern California and have a pool so our backyard is mostly concrete. I built a 10" deep 4x16 raised bed planter and integrated our coop and run inside of it.

This is my first thread posting here at BYC but I have been reading the forum for the past month or so to learn from all of your wonderful experiences! Thanks in advance!

 

[junebuggena]

Lighting all night long is not a good idea. They need a light/dark cycle for proper development and laying. And a light to get them into the coop in the evening is only meant to be a temporary thing. Once the habit of going to roost in their coop is established, they don't need the encouragement of the light.

 

[SunHwaKwon]

Turn the solar panel so that it faces in a direction that it can't get a full charge. that is what I do with mine. The light still comes on at dusk, but is not full strength and it fades in a few hours. I have to use one because my guineas like to stay out until right before dark and then come back to the run and act like they've never seen the coop before.

 

[ECBW]

There is level of brightness. To stimulate egg production, you need certain level. For you to see your birds sleep, you can get by with a lot less. Otherwise, the birds don't need night lights. Why? Because their eye are shut, and they don't suffer insomnia.