Run Lighting

[JoeInPA]

I've now had my chickens since about mid August when they were just chicks, and I still haven't gotten a single egg. I don't think this is abnormal because they probably have only become mature enough to lay eggs in the past month or so, and the days are very short this time of year which I've read affects egg laying.

Usually they are up at 5:30 AM or so thanks to my rooster (same age) and his morning wake up calls, but they don't come out of the coop until 6:30 or 7:00 after the sun has come up. They stay outside most of the day. This time of year it gets dark around 5 PM and is pitch black by 6 PM. The chickens are inside and on the roost by 5 PM.

Knowing that light can affect egg laying, I decided to add a light inside the run yesterday. I used the same fixture I used for my heat lamp when they were in the broader, only I used a natural daylight colored LED floodlight instead of the heat bulb. I hung the lamp inside the run just hooked on a screw, then zip tied it to the side of the run as a safety if it were to fall off the hook. The bulb doesn't get hot or even warm to the touch but I'm not taking any chances. Then I plugged it into the same extension cord as my heated waterer.

I turned it on maybe an hour before the sun started setting and the chickens did stay outside maybe an extra 10 or 20 minutes later than usual. I'll be interested to see if this light may help their egg production or encourage them to stay up a little later. Let me know what you think!

 

[FortCluck]

I use solar lighting in my run just so they can see where everything is.

I haven't tried supplemental lighting to encourage laying just because I like their systems to do their thing without interruption from me.

Let us know if it works!

 

[NuggetTheChicken]

Nice. They probably won't start laying until spring, because in the winter the days are shorter. Having a light in the coop does help with egg production. I personally have solar lights in the coop. The solar charging panel is outside. It looks kind of like the picture. This way you don't need to use electricity and it is pretty much free. The one I have automatically turns on when it starts to get dark and turns off in a few hours after.

 

[aart]

Let me know what you think!

Don't think this is going to help much...especially because the light is in the run and they went to bed anyway. It's not like flipping a switch on the egg laying machine.

Both duration of daily light and whether it is increasing or decreasing have an affect on laying. I have played with lighting for 6 years now with various results. This year I left it at ~13-14 hours all year, bumped it up a month ago and neither my pullets nor hens started laying again until a couple weeks after winter solstice.

Here's a pretty good article on supplemental lighting, that should help you understand the basics of how light affects laying.

 

[JoeInPA]

Don't think this is going to help much...especially because the light is in the run and they went to bed anyway. It's not like flipping a switch on the egg laying machine.

Both duration of daily light and whether it is increasing or decreasing have an affect on laying. I have played with lighting for 6 years now with various results. This year I left it at ~13-14 hours all year, bumped it up a month ago and neither my pullets nor hens started laying again until a couple weeks after winter solstice.

Here's a pretty good article on supplemental lighting, that should help you understand the basics of how light affects laying.

I do have a very crude understanding of the topic, but I figure if as long as it's not hurting anything, it may be interesting if nothing else to see how it affects their behavior. It's not that I'm dying for eggs, I mean obviously this is a hobby, not an investment. I mainly just curious to see how they do with it.

I've been turning it on in the morning when I open the pop door, and turning it off a couple hours after sunset, around 7 pm. They still go right inside the coop at 5 pm.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I've been turning it on in the morning when I open the pop door, and turning it off a couple hours after sunset, around 7 pm. They still go right inside the coop at 5 pm.

If they're going in at 5 pm the only thing having it on outside for 2 additional hours is to cause some rumbling and grumbling on the roost. Once my chickens roost I want to keep it dark, keeps 'em quiet and stops the rumbles.

 

[aart]

and turning it off a couple hours after sunset, around 7 pm. They still go right inside the coop at 5 pm.

So for those two hours they are really not exposed to it enough to stimulate the pineal gland.

 

[Fairview01]

Run lights may encourage them to stay outside longer exposing them to nocturnal predators. Lighting inside the coop brings them inside quicker.

Quality of light is as important as duration of light. The light needs to mimic natural daylight to stimulate egg laying. I use grow lights for plants.

Duration between 12-14 hours. I started getting fertile eggs roughly 2 weeks ago.

I have read that with adequate intensity of light the chicken does not need to be awake. The skull is so thin that the necessary UV light will pass through the bones. Intetesting article, wish i could find it again.

 

[aart]

Intetesting article, wish i could find it again.

I believe this one may offer that info:

Here's a pretty good article on supplemental lighting

 

[JoeInPA]

Well if nothing else, it does help me to see things in the run much better and some of the light does make it into the coop. This morning is pretty dark and rainy and with the light on the chickens are out in the run pecking about. They usually wouldn't be out just yet being this dark, so it does seem to be encouraging them to be more active, if only a little bit.

Quality of light is as important as duration of light. The light needs to mimic natural daylight to stimulate egg laying. I use grow lights for plants.

The bulb I used is a floodlight-style natural daylight color bulb. It's the same type of bulb used to help people with seasonal affective disorder. It should be fairly good quality light.