Should I Turn My Light Off During the Day?

[JackE]

My coup is essentially 3 coups connected together. Each is about a 5'x6' room with an opening to the next. Each room has a roosting bar and 2 rooms have nesting boxes. I placed a heat lamp below a poop board in one room and another at the far end in the other room. The girls have their choice to roost in a semi-lit room or a room without a light. Guess where they roost during the cold nights? I'm sure that you guessed wrong. They prefer the warmer semi-lit room over the darkened room. I have also checked up on them at night and I have witnessed that some of the hens like to sleep down in the pine chips around the heat lamp. They have the choice of a lit area or a very dark area. They can choose where to roost whether it is up on the roosting bars in the dark and down in the pine chips near a heat lamp.

We run a dog rescue and we have a heated building with dog pens inside with runs to the outside. Most pens are compartmentalized so that there are two areas to sleep. One are has a brooder heat lamp and a divider wall allows for a darker and cooler area. Guess where the dogs love to sleep? Right under the heat lamp! The rooms stay around 60 deg F on cold nights but most dogs love to lay in the area around the heat lamps. We also have outside dog houses with 2 compartments and a hound heater in one side.

I am not knocking anyone that does not have my set-up. I am just posting my personal experience and not regurgitating stuff that I read and thus thought to be the sacred cloth of truth. Others can make their own intelligent decisions

I guess they would choose the warmer area, so what. The bottom line is, that you are doing them no favors with a heatlamp. They don't need it. What you are accomplishing, is not letting the chickens truly acclimate to the cold. You would find out, really the chickens would, the hard way, if you were to lose power in the middle of a cold snap. Then, without the warmth YOU provided, your birds would suffer.
Jack
After I posted this, I see that Hokum beat me to the point.

 

[4 the Birds]

Healthy "COLD HEARTY" chickens can survive Arctic Conditions when acclimatized to them. Cold is never the ruling factor when chickens parish in winter months.

Hmmm... "Cold is NEVER the ruling factor when chickens parish in the winter months". Well if you say so. People can endure extreme Arctic Conditions as well. Do you set your home thermostat down to 40 deg to save money and to acclimate to the cold? Pehaps you can "weed out' any old or sick relatives that you have staying with you! :-o OK... bad joke.

We have other livestock and they all get a warm and draft-free housing or places in the barn. Can chickens survive in really cold temps? Yes. Is there comfort and survivability higher if the temps are moderated for them? Logically..... Yes in my personal experience. Apparently you dissagree. I have no problem with people that choose no heat and live in extreme cold climates. I have the means and ability to add a heat lamp so I do so. We have a large gas powered generator on-site to ensure our home and anything else has continuous power if the grid goes down for extended periods of time. Have a nice day!

 

[4 the Birds]

I guess they would choose the warmer area, so what. The bottom line is, that you are doing them no favors with a heatlamp. They don't need it. What you are accomplishing, is not letting the chickens truly acclimate to the cold. You would find out, really the chickens would, the hard way, if you were to lose power in the middle of a cold snap. Then, without the warmth YOU provided, your birds would suffer.
Jack
After I posted this, I see that Hokum beat me to the point.

The birds are well acclimated and enjoy free-ranging outside in the rain and all but the coldest and windy days. They have an acre fenced in field to free range with our goats and even roost in the goat house if they wish. They enjoy the comfort of their coop! We have a generator on-site if we lose power so I doubt that they will suffer. No doubt that your birds are Winter tough compared to ours.

 

[Hokum Coco]

Should I continue to leave the lights on 24/7 or should I buy a light with a timer on it that will turn off during the day? Does this light produce any warmth to the chickens? Those incandescent bulbs come in two wattage that I am aware of 150 watts and 75 Watts for starters. They do give off an extreme amount of heat enough to kindle bedding should they fall in your coop. Unless your bedding is fire retardant (sand or pea gravel etc). Some are using LED bulbs I have noticed I personally think that would be more safe.

I personally see no reason to have the lights on during the day and would go with the timer like you first posted. Some BYCers light their coop 12 to 14 hours and leave there birds in the dark 12 to 10 hours to get maximum egg production out of their flock. If that is your goal there is the path you should take. Lighting 24/7 is not the answer.

Every set up is different and I would keep an open mind and experiment to see what works best for you and your particular needs. Maximum egg production is not my goal. I already shared what works best for me in COLD Canada. I have chickens and at times I have to buy eggs I must admit.

Good Luck! Four The Birds

 

[4 the Birds]

Ah OK. My lights have zero chance getting near the floor. The cords are tied vertically to the roof beams so short of a tornado they aren't going anywhere. The bulbs that I use are heat bulbs and they are red. They produce and very mild and dark red glow and not a bright light associated with floods. As I mentioned, the birds have several dark areas to roost at night if they choose. A few of them sometimes will make a nest in the straw/pine chips in the goat shed. Our goat shed has a thermostatically controlled hound heater. As you mentioned, I suppose that I could add timers to the lamps to shut off during the day; Yet, this is not a concern with our heating budget. I could also swap the lamp for a hound heater that produces no glow at all. I will remove the lamps here soon as the temperatures begin to moderate. Our current egg production is very good regardless of the season. We get nearly an egg/day from each hen. Only a handful of older hens are less frequent. Thanks for your input!

 

[Hokum Coco]

Yes! I am just now looking down the tunnel of how well planned and thought out your operation is. There is really no need for me or any one else to comment on this thread any further. Other than to verify your position.

Good luck!