Question about sunshine

[mountainlover]

I read chickens need a certain amount of sunshine to lay eggs and I'm concerned about my space. We are pretty wooded where the coop and run will be. Is this going to be a problem? They will have to stay there to be protected from all the predators but they will have adequate coop and run space. I'm just worried they are going to be shaded a lot by the pines. Not ALL the time but a lot. Thanks!

 

[debid]

I have my coop tucked into the edge of a hardwood forest. It works out great because the trees leaf out and give lots of shade in the warmer months and then go bare and let the sun shine in the winter. The trees really damper the wind, too. It's the best possible scenario. But, chickens are pretty flexible and can tolerate lots of different environments. Commercial layers never see the sun, you know. Artificial light has the same effect on their light sensors as natural sun. They'd just need to get their D from the ration.

I can tell you that first-year pullets lay through the winter and second-year hens stop to molt when the light hours shorten. If you have heavy shade, it might happen earlier in the year. But, a low wattage bulb on a timer (I use a 40W) will offset the shortening days if you find that they are inclined to take a much longer break than is necessary for molting.

 

[gamerooster man]

a hen suppose to have 14hrs of sun light to lay eggs....if they got that much sun light its no problem

 

[Ridgerunner]

There are chickens near enough to the equator that they never see 14 hours of daylight, yet they lay as well as any other chickens of those breeds. Don’t get too hung up on 14 hours as a magic number.

Light is important to chickens. When days get shorter, they molt and quit laying. When days get longer, they lay. I know. First year pullets will often skip the molt and lay through their first winter but after that they molt when the days get shorter.

The 14 hour old wives tale does have a basis. When commercial operations can control all the light their chickens see, they use that as part of their cycle. They keep the light short until the pullets are old enough to lay commercial sized eggs. Then they change the feed and lengthen the light to kick-start them into laying. Part of that process is putting out just enough feed that the hens can clean it up at one time, then not feeding them until they are hungry again. This keeps the food hogs from stuffing themselves and keeping the non-dominant ones from being kept away from the food. That way all the hens get the right amount of food to lay a grade A large egg. The 14 hours is what they have settled on with their feeding cycles to get the right amount of food into the hens.

Many people think that by keeping 14 hours of light, their hens will never molt. That depends on where you live. If you live far enough away from the equator that your chickens see more than 14 hours of light, they may start a molt when the days get shorter before they get down to 14 hours.

Many people believe there is something magic about 14 hours. Not really. The days getting longer or shorter has a lot more effect than the actual length of the days.

As far as your location, as long as you can see to read a newspaper there, they are getting enough light. It’s a good question but I think you are worrying about something you shouldn’t.

 

[gamerooster man]

i tell you a good way to get them to lay is when you throw cracked corn in the pen with them mix it with laying pellets and they will love it...when i started doing that i starting getting 8 eggs a day from my 10 layer hens

 

[PandoraChick]

Our coop is also shaded pretty well by the trees in the summer and we live in the Midwest where it got dark at 4o all winter! Our girls started laying early fall last year at 14-16 weeks old and layed like crazy all winter long! We average 12-15 eggs a day from the BR, Cinn Queens, EE's. RR's and sexlink. We too were worried about a reduction of eggs in the winter or if they got enough light in the summer, but we never had a problem. I did heat their coop with red 250 watt heat lamps through the winter at night...I do not know if that played a part...also on the darkest winter days, I left a day-time heat lamp on in here, but that was only a day here and there. Our biggest problem was getting the eggs before they froze as the nesting boxes are not insulated.
I wouldn't worry

 

[missnu01]

Have you noticed that grass and small plants under trees will still grow...some sunlight still hits the ground, although it is greatly dimmed. Your chickens will still get enough residual light to make enough vitamin D to lay eggs.

And you can't ration everything...The sun builds vitamin K, which is necessary for the body to process and absorb Vitamin D and calcium.

 

[arcatamarcia]

I think what the chickens need is light, not necessarily sunshine. My girls don't like being in bright sun. They mostly cluster in the shady spots in my yard. Really deep dark shade constantly might cut a bit into your egg production, but it doesn't sound like that's what you've got.

 

[mountainlover]

Thanks everyone! I think they will be fine then. We do get dark a lot earlier in winter and the pines do shade a lot of the sun all summer but it is still daylight even if the sun isn't shining right on the spot my chickens will be. And we have a lot of sunny days here. So that sounds like it will be fine.

 

[missnu01]

Yeah. We live in the shadow of a mountain...so we only get a few hours of direct sunlight, and it hits nowhere near the coop...but I got 6/7 eggs today, an 7/7 yesterday, and 6/7 the day before that. So no issues caused by it. They just can't make eggs if kept totally in the dark.