Northern Hemisphere chicken keepers. Hang in there.

[BigBlueHen53]

What kind of light do you recommend?

I have heard that even a night light will suffice, I don't really know. What I happen to have is a regular household bulb in a heat lamp housing, just bc that's what I have. Today I got 13 eggs. I won't be now until tomorrow after sunset.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

2nd winter, and still hardly molted. Golden Sex Links. Great chickens, and they have a well insulated coop, a really nice run, and i spoil them occasionally. They also eat out kitchen scraps, and occasionally I give them Black Fly larva. I also keep them out of the wind in the run itself. They were hatched in April of 2023.

Someone said on here I think to use a red led light. I found a led bulb enclosed in plastic 4 watt at ace hardware.its the size of a floodlight. I run it from 5am until sunrise and 4pm till 8pm 8 hens over a year and 16 hatched this year. I get 11 to 19 eggs a day now try it you will like it!

Does supplemental light help if they are already laying or will it help for pullets not yet laying. Ours are between 8-10 months old, not one egg yet. They are certainly all old enough - astralorpe and orpington - I don't expect anything from the red sex link as we believe she is reproductively fubar. Should I try supplemental light now?
Also, the Golden Comet has decided it's time to molt - feathers all over, she looks shabby. Why now? It's getting cold here, by FL standards. Just let nature take it's course and wait patiently for eggs next spring? Insight appreciated.

I am ending my 2nd week of supplemental light (1st time in 6 winters); timer based - on early morning off at 7:30am. current intent is 14 hours/day.

Both June 2024 pullets and older in flock of 24 hens; getting eggs from 2, a Barred Rock and a pullet, every couple of days. Pullet started after 1 week supplemental.

Chanteclers, Barred Rock, Maran mixes.

Thanks for your reply. This is our first winter with chickens and first experience with a molt, so new experiences all around. I know one thing - as each day goes by with chickens and the more I learn and read - the less I know.

What kind of light do you recommend?

This is a response to the quoted messages in the aggregate. Around here I have a textbook titled poultry lighting and covers the topics in exhaustive detail. It covers chickens and turkey primarily and everything from hatching through maturity. I read it but it isn't an easy read as it is quite technical and I had to look up several of the terms as the scientific notations. I can't find the book at the moment but I'll double check what I write here when I do and follow up.
Keep in mind that chicken's eyesight is far superior to that of humans in many ways and inferior in at least one. Chickens see 300 degrees around them, while humans only see 180 degrees. They see in a wider range of light spectrum including ultraviolet (invisible to humans). This is because chickens are tetrachromatic, having 4 types of cones in the retina while humans have 3. Their perception of UV light lets them pick out insects, seeds and other things that reflect UV light in soil and vegetation that does not reflect it.
On the downside perhaps is that chickens see with greater acuity than we in brighter light, yet with less acuity in dim light making them virtually blind in the dark.
Like hawks and eagles, they have independent eye movement. This not only allows them to look in two directions at once but also a difference between eyes in ability to see distance. The embryo's right eye is exposed to the shell and the light that passes through it. The left eye is shielded and becomes the eye for distance and they can see approaching predators at a significantly farther distance than humans.
For this discussion, light in the spectrum of from (590 to 700 nm yellow, orange and red) is more penetrative as indicated by those colors showing up in the sky at sunset and often sunrise. This is because the atmosphere between us and the horizon filters out shorter spectrum light. For the same reason, the orange and red spectrums are more effective for chickens' detection of light period.
I saw something written here about making chickens 'think' about day length. I really don't think it has anything to do with their conscious effort to go into production, lose or grow feathers or anything else. Chickens will still molt regardess of what they 'think' about day length. Feathers are lost and broken. They need to replace them regularly, normally annually. Near the equator, where daylength is consistent, they still molt. There are other factors at play. Many areas of the tropics have wet and dry seasons. This can instigate it. the planets have elliptical orbits. This can cause the sun's intensity to be different seasonally in spite of consistent day length. The chickens can detect that change in intensity.
The thing is, the body's reaction to light/dark period is biological not a conscious effort. Think of it as a natural involuntary reflex.
Even blind chickens will have an automatic response to daylength. That is probably why the longer orange/red spectrum of light is more effective. That is because it will penetrate the skull reaching the pineal gland without needing to be detected by consciousness of sight.
The hypothalamus is an area of the brain that coordinates biological clock signals. The pineal gland translates signals from the nervous system into a hormonal signal. Shorter light period thereby generates production of serotonin and melatonin which causes the gonads to become inactive. That affects sperm production in males and ovulation in females. As light period increases, the gonads are rejuvenated. So, supplemental light isn't really a magic thing. The duration of melatonin secretion each day is directly proportional to the length of the night because of the pineal gland's ability to measure daylength.
As for intensity of light. Basically, if you can barely read a newspaper at roost height, that is sufficient.
The period of time it takes for supplemental light to have an impact depends on the amount and which hormones are in the birds at the time. It isn't exactly like flicking on a switch. While you can just add a light on a timer that comes on about 4 hours prior to ambient dawn. I prefer to add about a half hour or hour of light in the morning, increasing incrementally weekly. That seems to work well. If in a full molt, no amount of light will cause egg production.
Avoid handling the birds while molting, decrease any cause of stress, insure clean fresh water all waking hours and perhaps increase good quality protein so they have all the essential amino acids necessary for feather growth and subsequently, ovulation.
I hope all that was not too convoluted to understand. It is almost midnight here and I haven't reread before posting.

 

[Bawkbok]

This is a response to the quoted messages in the aggregate. Around here I have a textbook titled poultry lighting and covers the topics in exhaustive detail. It covers chickens and turkey primarily and everything from hatching through maturity. I read it but it isn't an easy read as it is quite technical and I had to look up several of the terms as the scientific notations. I can't find the book at the moment but I'll double check what I write here when I do and follow up.
Keep in mind that chicken's eyesight is far superior to that of humans in many ways and inferior in at least one. Chickens see 300 degrees around them, while humans only see 180 degrees. They see in a wider range of light spectrum including ultraviolet (invisible to humans). This is because chickens are tetrachromatic, having 4 types of cones in the retina while humans have 3. Their perception of UV light lets them pick out insects, seeds and other things that reflect UV light in soil and vegetation that does not reflect it.
On the downside perhaps is that chickens see with greater acuity than we in brighter light, yet with less acuity in dim light making them virtually blind in the dark.
Like hawks and eagles, they have independent eye movement. This not only allows them to look in two directions at once but also a difference between eyes in ability to see distance. The embryo's right eye is exposed to the shell and the light that passes through it. The left eye is shielded and becomes the eye for distance and they can see approaching predators at a significantly farther distance than humans.
For this discussion, light in the spectrum of from (590 to 700 nm yellow, orange and red) is more penetrative as indicated by those colors showing up in the sky at sunset and often sunrise. This is because the atmosphere between us and the horizon filters out shorter spectrum light. For the same reason, the orange and red spectrums are more effective for chickens' detection of light period.
I saw something written here about making chickens 'think' about day length. I really don't think it has anything to do with their conscious effort to go into production, lose or grow feathers or anything else. Chickens will still molt regardess of what they 'think' about day length. Feathers are lost and broken. They need to replace them regularly, normally annually. Near the equator, where daylength is consistent, they still molt. There are other factors at play. Many areas of the tropics have wet and dry seasons. This can instigate it. the planets have elliptical orbits. This can cause the sun's intensity to be different seasonally in spite of consistent day length. The chickens can detect that change in intensity.
The thing is, the body's reaction to light/dark period is biological not a conscious effort. Think of it as a natural involuntary reflex.
Even blind chickens will have an automatic response to daylength. That is probably why the longer orange/red spectrum of light is more effective. That is because it will penetrate the skull reaching the pineal gland without needing to be detected by consciousness of sight.
The hypothalamus is an area of the brain that coordinates biological clock signals. The pineal gland translates signals from the nervous system into a hormonal signal. Shorter light period thereby generates production of serotonin and melatonin which causes the gonads to become inactive. That affects sperm production in males and ovulation in females. As light period increases, the gonads are rejuvenated. So, supplemental light isn't really a magic thing. The duration of melatonin secretion each day is directly proportional to the length of the night because of the pineal gland's ability to measure daylength.
As for intensity of light. Basically, if you can barely read a newspaper at roost height, that is sufficient.
The period of time it takes for supplemental light to have an impact depends on the amount and which hormones are in the birds at the time. It isn't exactly like flicking on a switch. While you can just add a light on a timer that comes on about 4 hours prior to ambient dawn. I prefer to add about a half hour or hour of light every morning, incrementally increasing weekly. That seems to work well. If in a full molt, no amount of light will cause egg production.
Avoid handling the birds while molting, decrease any cause of stress, insure clean fresh water all waking hours and perhaps increase good quality protein so they have all the essential amino acids necessary for feather growth and subsequently, ovulation.
I hope all that was not too convoluted to understand. It is almost midnight here and I haven't reread before posting.

Holy moly, this is awesome! Thank you for the education - feel like I just attended a crash course. It helps to understand how the supplemental light affects the birds and why. I know this will help many others who have the same questions as I.

Given we've past solstice and are going through a molt, I'll defer the light for now.

Hope all is well in the "show me" state!

 

[Ridgerunner]

I saw something written here about making chickens 'think' about day length. I really don't think it has anything to do with their conscious effort to go into production, lose or grow feathers or anything else.

Of course you are right. I did not mean to set you off when I used "think". Chickens do not "think" or "decide" when it comes to following natural instinctive triggers. Either they follow those triggers of they don't. I'll have to think of a way to rephrase that in the future.

They are all going to get the signals that day length is increasing as you described. Not all of them are going to act on those signals but I think the majority will, probably the vast majority. I blame this on us messing up some instincts when we domesticated them. Survival of the fittest no longer requires them to follow those instincts so you can get variations. I don't know of any concerted breeding effort to wean the from those instincts.

 

[Mrs. K]

I wonder if the quality of sunlight makes a difference too? The last couple of winters had a LOT OF GLOOMY days. This has been a warm and dry winter, we have had just endless days of bright sunlight and I have 3 birds laying. Pretty young birds, but several hens are beginning to redden up.

Last year, I did not get eggs from the end of November - to the end of January. This summer I carefully glassed eggs, and now I am thinking I am not even going to get them all used up!

Chickens, they drive you crazy!

Mrs K

 

[Evadig]

I'm not sure if this is the right thread, but y'all were talking about lighting in correlation to egg-laying...

My Miss Rose, a nearly two-year-old Delaware with major reproductive issues, has suddenly decided to lay four eggs in the last week. She hasn't laid in months. She has been inside a dim coop for about a month, with only a few days outside. If hens need light, what is making her lay?

(Meanwhile my nearly year old mottled Javas, in the same conditions, have not laid a single egg since they were cooped up).

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Of course you are right. I did not mean to set you off when I used "think". Chickens do not "think" or "decide" when it comes to following natural instinctive triggers. Either they follow those triggers of they don't. I'll have to think of a way to rephrase that in the future.

They are all going to get the signals that day length is increasing as you described. Not all of them are going to act on those signals but I think the majority will, probably the vast majority. I blame this on us messing up some instincts when we domesticated them. Survival of the fittest no longer requires them to follow those instincts so you can get variations. I don't know of any concerted breeding effort to wean the from those instincts.

LOL, I have always admired you and your knowledge and have always appreciated your posts. That is why I didn't attribute the 'think' thing to you. I figured you used that term for the benefit of most.

Assuredly, genetic selection of the last few hundred years has created a new beast. Not all bad though. Rapid growth and higher production have served to provide inexpensive animal protein to billions of urbanites.
I'm not an apologist for big AG but with the ratio of urban to rural residents skewing every year, someone has to feed all those people unable to feed themselves.

 

[Demarvell]

I might be thinking wrong, but I let my chickens do their own thing. When it gets darker they lay a few less, but they are still laying at about 65% as a W.A.G.. Gold sex links. Very good layers. I don't care about colored eggs or fancy chickens. I need their eggs to keep me healthy. They are treated well, fed a balanced layer feed, and all the kitchen scraps that we come up with. Plus occasionally extra larva for protein in the winter months to help them keep warm and healthy.