Questions about adding light to a coop..

[Angiebubs]

Quote:
good advice

I use flourescent but will probably switch to the rope lights. Last year when it got real cold and flourescent wouldn't work I switched to incandescent.

It's better to start early and let the day end when it ends.
It can work either way though. I have a timer like yours(2/4/6/8 hours after dusk) It worked for me.
When they realize the light goes out abruptly they roost early. I watch them the first few days when lights go out and use a flashlight to help them find the way.
I use evening light with the coops that have roosters so they don't start crowing at 4AM.

If I were to add the light at the beginning of the day and need to extend by 5 hrs..the lights would then come on at like 2 or 3 in the morning-would this work or be detrimental?

 

[nakstk]

I am wondering the same thing as the OP. I had a heat light going all night for my hens because of freezing temps. Yesterday morning I went out to let them out and they must have been wrestling around in the coop because the bulb was broken away from the little fixture screwing piece. Luckily there was no broken glass or anything. I know that this is just the start of the cold weather so I am really debating on getting another heat light or just add a regular light on a timer. My hens haven't started laying yet but they are showing signs of being close. Their 21.2 weeks old.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

If you use the early morning method just calculate 12 -14 hours back from dusk. Whatever that becomes is the time you start.
We're getting about 9 1/2 hours of light now so I add 4 hours.

For those of you that are adding heat or running a heat lamp in your coops, I strongly urge you to stop.
You're spending lots of money on electricity unnecessarily. Just because you're cold doesn't mean your chickens are. When you are comfy in summer at 80 degrees standing in the sun, your chickens would be miserable and hunting for cover.
Adding heat at night and turning the birds out in the morning to face the cold is much worse than being cold 24/7.
It's going to get much colder. They need to acclimate now. Not allowing them to do so isn't good.
Most breeds of chickens will die from heat and lack of adequate ventilation, not cold. None of my coops are heated or insulated, the birds are fine.

 

[Linn Bee]

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So you have two separate timers set up?

Yes, two timers. As I said, "Overkill".

Love, Linn B (aka Smart Red) Gardening zone 5a - 4b in south-est, central-est Wisconsin

 

[Dead Rabbit]

all hens need is 2 extra hrs of light. all that 4 and 5 hrs of light needed that the books recommend is nothing more than hoop-lah overkill. i add light in evening, just b/c i dont want them up and off the roost before its light outside. mine are free pasture ranged and with it being dark outside, they will do nothing but hang out in the coop for hrs before the sun raises. ive done this for yrs and yrs. and mine are always on the roost before the light goes out. they learn quickly. i have a timer that has an "eye" sensor that when the natural light starts to dim, the sensor tells the artificial light to come on. i set the timer for 2 hrs. it works great and has worked for yrs.

im averaging 15 eggs per day outa 17 hens.

the rope light idea intrigues me. i never heard of that before. i may try it.

 

[Dead Rabbit]

Quote:
yes adding light will burn them out for production much quicker. a hen has a certain amount of eggs in her system, and thats all she will ever lay. whether she lays most of them in the first 2 yrs or it takes her 4 or more yrs. thats all their is and eventually that well will run dry.

just my personal guess-ti-mation....but id say you will get a dz eggs per wk. outa 20 old hens. but why do this? with that many hens you should be getting a dz-18 eggs per day. feed is costly and with all grains going up all the time. your feeding a bunch of worthless hens expensive feed....just to have them around.

 

[digitS']

Quote:
It might be best to think of the "well" as the reproductive health of the hen. It is probably her hormone production that slows to the point where she is no longer able to lay eggs.

Research 50 years ago came up with the number of 480,000 oocytes (potential eggs) in the ovary of a female chick (click, 27 page pdf). No hen will lay 480,000 eggs no matter how many egg cells she has in her ovary. Ceasing to lay is for some other reason than actually running out of eggs. It may be that high production over a few years shortens the time, however.

I had a bantam that laid a few eggs for a clutch or 2 when she was 7 years old. A high-production hen may live that long but may be years past laying . . . don't know, never kept other hens that long.

Steve