Supplemental lighting for pullets?

[WaveyCreekChickens]

My pullets (3 Wyandottes and 1 Orpington) are 22 weeks old. They have not started laying. Their combs are not red yet. Would supplemental lighting make a difference to when they will start laying? Right now I don’t give them supplemental light. Thank you.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Oh I should note you can't just start them at 14 to 15 hours of light if you are only getting 11 to 12 depending upon where you live. The suggestion is to increase 15 to 30 minutes a week.

Personally, I don't bother with lighting. I just let nature take its course.
LofMc

 

[Lady of McCamley]

@WaveyCreekChickens I'm sorry the responses seemed confusing. It is important to keep in mind the difference between chicken keeping philosophy (which we all have and must figure out) and chicken keeping science for production (which is what the industry has learned for high commercial production but not necessarily for the long term health of the hen).

Supplemental lighting is a choice some believe is fine while others believe it pushes their productive system too much. (philosophy)

The science shows supplemental lighting if used correctly, triggers the pituitary gland to release the hormones to lay. BUT it must be used correctly and consistently or it will cause harm or be useless.

If total lighting is more than 16 hours a day, nervousness, feather picking, and outright aggression as well as layer fatigue can occur in the flock. If used to push laying too early (by 17 to 18 weeks), uterine prolapse is much more frequent. (Hence the attitudes to remain with the "natural" cycle.) Overall lighting does tend to reduce the long term production of the bird, ie they "play out" by 2 or 3 years of age. The commercial industry is not concerned with that as their goal is egg production. Many of us backyard farmers are not so concerned with egg production that we cannot let the natural ebb and flow of egg laying take its natural course. We get less eggs but longer lived hens.

And lighting has to be consistent and applied at the right time. If it is delayed on developing pullets who are maturing in shortening daylight, it will not push them into lay at their normal maturity time. The developing pullets need 12 to 14 hours of light when they begin to hit maturity to begin to lay. If they mature when the days are shorter than 12 hours, they typically won't lay until the day length is 12 to 14 hours. But to "kick them into gear" without delay, you need to keep the total light at 12 to 14 hours, meaning starting lighting at the summer equinox. Days are already shortening in July and August for most of us in the north. But it depends on the breed and the bird (see next paragraph).

First year pullets often come into lay that first year if they are started early enough to get enough daylight during summer to trigger the brain hormones. However, for high production and continued consistent production as light gets shorter in winter, lighting is used by the commercial industries.

There are actual charts produced to show the lumen level of light to the age of pullet and a careful schedule to follow to introduce laying at maturity when the days are getting shorter and how to keep them laying at high production (typically 16 hours).

I prefer life a bit more simplistic. I used to light. Now I don't. Various reasons. I prefer to rotate my flock so that I have young pullets maturing by August so that they lay for the fall, then I keep a continued new set of pullets maturing by August. I find my broody hatched February chicks fit that bill. I find my hens overall live longer and still produce reasonably well. But I don't have contracts to fill with thousands of eggs.

It seems this worked itself out for you, to your girlfriend's happiness. Likely more will begin to lay. Maturing by fall is always a bit dicey whether the pullet will begin laying in the fall (having gotten enough light naturally in the summer) or if they wait until spring (having not gotten enough for their particular body).

As stated to keep the best production of eggs, the commercial industries will light to keep a total of 16 hours of daylight...however, beware as stated that comes with some price (see layer fatigue, nervousness, feather picking, aggression).

So what you do will always boil down to your decision on animal care. Lighting within reason is not harmful (12 to 14 hours) but keep an eye out for nervousness in the flock. Do be aware you will likely cause an overall shorter production life in the hen.

I'll post a good Ag article below which goes into great depth on lighting techniques.

Congratulations on your new eggs.

LofMc

https://extension.umaine.edu/publications/2227e/

 

[WaveyCreekChickens]

Update!
I went without the additional lighting.
With just the natural light, the young hens (hatched in early May) started laying in December to January. They now all lay pretty much every day.
The older hens have been adding theirs too.

 

[Tookie]

They don't need supplemental light, let them take their time.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Yes. But you needed to start back in August. You'll have a delay until they catch up again hormonally. It takes between 12 and 14 hours of daylight (total lighting) to trigger the pituitary gland to release hormones to initiate laying.

Delaying the extra lighting will forego that boost when it was needed, so they will have a delay. BUT starting now and making sure they have 12 to 14 hours of total lighting, including daylight, can get them to kick into gear.

However, there are disadvantages to supplemental lighting. It can cause feather picking, especially if you go over 14 hours or have too bright of light. It also does not give their bodies the needed rest with the natural seasons. You may find layer fatigue sets in.

LofMc

 

[Lady of McCamley]

I would love to see the evidence that lighting to 14 hours a day cuts down the # of years they lay. Just like humans, they would most likely stop laying eggs for other reasons BEFORE they run out of eggs. Production breeds may be the exception. JMHO

How, when, and why to light is complicated in the poultry industry. While it is agreed that 12 to 14 hours of lighting, with the appropriate type lighting, is generally considered safe, much has not been studied, and overall consensus is definitely that too much light, the wrong kind of light, and light too early, is a bad thing. A growing suspicion that unnatural lighting is actually harmful is beginning to receive some merit.

This article is probably the most succinct in explaining the complicated process of proper lighting and warns using too much lighting too early in sexual maturity will lessen the overall laying life of a hen and risk prolapse.
https://extension.umaine.edu/publications/2227e/

This abstract below shows the growing interest in doing research on the overall welfare of poultry and how long hour light actually reduces egg production and lowers immune system. (I had trouble getting the link to do anything other than download the article, but I've copied the important paragraph and wrote the link below).

"4.1.1. Light Duration Light duration is important for the growth, reproduction, and welfare of chickens. In poultry production, chickens are confronted with long-light phases. However, extremely long-light cycles are associated with reduced performance. In the European Union, an uninterrupted darkness of 8 h for laying hens is mandatory to maintain normal circadian rhythms and promote maximum rest because intermittent darkness may affect the rest and feeding of the chickens, resulting in a variety of metabolic and immune disorders [15,54]. Hence, keeping chickens under short-light conditions could lead to stronger responsiveness Animals 2022, 12, 729 6 of 14 against bacterial infections and better responses to vaccinations [53], and decrease the risk of vent pecking [55]. Given the freedom to choose different light intensities (<1 lux–100 lux), W-36 laying hens (23–30 weeks) spent an accumulation of 10.0 h in darkness (<1 lux) per day, and dark hours were distributed intermittently throughout the day, which differed from the typical commercial practice of providing continuous dark periods for certain parts of the day (e.g., 8 h at night) [56]. On the contrary, pullets reared on long durations (14 h to 17 h) mature faster than birds reared on constant 10 h [57]. Introducing 2 h midnight lighting (ML, 2 h + 12 h) late in the growing period (12–18 wk) also induced early maturity and had the least egg production (302) from 18 to 70 wk, whereas providing 2 h ML from 0–18 wk resulted in the greatest number of eggs (317), and ML given only from 0–12 wk of age had the effect of delaying maturity and produced a middling number of eggs (310–312) [58]. However, the midnight lighting treatments had quite minor effects on the growth and feed intake of pullets according to another study by the same authors [59]."
Effects of Key Farm Management Practices on Pullets Welfare—A Review
MDPI
Animals 2022, 12, 729. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12060729
https://www.mdpi.com/journal/animals (peer reviewed)

https://www.mdpi.com › pdf

 

[Tonyroo]

Wyandotte pullet start laying at about 32 to 36 weeks on average. I would assume it's similar with Orpingtons.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Yes. Lighting will get their hormones starting but won't mature a Wyandotte faster. You'll just keep them hormonally maturing.

 

[Tookie]

They are contrary answers to MY original question, which was, does supplemental lighting make a difference, when it comes to when pullets start laying.
I know I CAN use the lighting, but I wanted to know if it would make a difference. @Tookie said, No, they don’t need it. Whereas @Lady of McCamley said now there will be a delay.

I don't know much on supplemental light, I would just let them take their time in my opinion. I probably shouldn't have said anything.