Solar sidewalk lights

[Dooner]

I bought two small solar sidewalk lights from Menards the other day for a buck each and placed them outside my very small coop for a couple of reasons that may or may not make sense. One, they give me a bit of light when i go out to put them to bed. Two, i heard they are afraid of the dark, so i thought the little bit of light would ease their fear of going into the hutch. Three, i thought the light may deter predators a bit. Am i totally off base and could the light mess up their rythym?

 

[ADozenGirlz]

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Hello Dooner and welcome to BYC!

You'll be just fine to keep the solar lights out near the coop. They're not so bright that they would affect the chickens' egg production. Chickens are not afraid of the dark, they sleep better if it is dark-dark. (I have a chicken-cam in my coop, so I know more than I really need to about what goes on in there at night!). Every time I get a new batch of chicks, I keep them inside the coop for about a week or so before I let them out into the run. This familiarizes them with the concept of where "home and bed" are. The next week, I keep them confined to the run for similar reasons. They will naturally migrate back to the run and coop at dusk once they have been trained in this way. And I don't think it's ever too late to implement this training either. They're fairly quick studies.

What chickens are afraid of at night is when a predator gets into their coop. THAT's something to be concerned about and protect against.

 

[pinkwindsong]

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I too keep a solar out at my pen, like you said it helps when I go out to lock them up for the night. and they seem much calmer when its on, since it doesn't last all night I figured it wouldn't hurt for them to feel secure tell they sleep. ( I know Im putting human feelings on a bird, and that's silly but they do seam to like it. )

blessed be
)O(
Pink

ps welcome to byc, I love it here.