To Light or Not To Light ~ That is the Question!

[riversbendhen]

Hello all, I am newby wondering what to do with my 5 layers now that 4 of them have stopped laying here in Michigan. I understand there is a controversy about whether or not to add artificial light to keep them laying but I don't know why. Can anyone explain this to me?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Some believe in letting hens go through a natural cycle as far as laying. Which includes rests and time for recovering. Light dictates the lay cycle. Increasing light like in spring will cause production to increase. Decreasing light will slow or stop production.

Hens for the most part will lay x number of eggs in their lifetime before quitting. If eggs is what you are interested in, and you will cull hens after a few seasons than lighting may be for you.

If eggs aren't your only reason for keeping chickens, than you may wish for your hens to rest during the darker days. One way isn't the correct way. You just need to pick what works for you and your goals in keeping chickens.

 

[lazy gardener]

Welcome! How old are your birds? What do you have them on for feed? Protein percent?

The controversy is this: Some folks simply prefer to let their birds take a winter break. Others prefer to use a light so the hens continue to lay during the winter. Even with a supplemental light, your birds are going to take a break to molt if they are over a year old.

I am a middle of the road person: I let my birds take a break until laying dwindles to the point where my fridge is getting emptied of eggs, and my egg customers start begging for more eggs. Then, I add the light, and increase 1 extra hour/week over current day length. It takes them a while to start laying with this approach, but it works well for me.

You will also hear that supplemental lighting should be provided in the morning, so the birds have a natural end of day. I will never do it that way b/c my roo would be crowing at 2:30 AM. And the birds would be laying at that time, so I would be getting up to a lot of frozen eggs. So, when I provide supplemental lighting, my final schedule looks like this: On 6:30 Am - 10:00 AM, and again 3:00 PM to 8:30 PM. I put a solar LED landscaping light near my warm spectrum supplemental light. This keeps the solar battery charged, so when the supplemental light goes out, they have a night light for a bit. Even without the night light, the birds were never caught off the roost at lights out.

This year, I have a lot of new pullets, so am not needing to give them a light.

 

[riversbendhen]

Some believe in letting hens go through a natural cycle as far as laying. Which includes rests and time for recovering. Light dictates the lay cycle. Increasing light like in spring will cause production to increase. Decreasing light will slow or stop production.

Hens for the most part will lay x number of eggs in their lifetime before quitting. If eggs is what you are interested in, and you will cull hens after a few seasons than lighting may be for you.

If eggs aren't your only reason for keeping chickens, than you may wish for your hens to rest during the darker days. One way isn't the correct way. You just need to pick what works for you and your goals in keeping chickens.

Thank you oldhenlikesdogs. That was helpful.

 

[riversbendhen]

Welcome! How old are your birds? What do you have them on for feed? Protein percent?

The controversy is this: Some folks simply prefer to let their birds take a winter break. Others prefer to use a light so the hens continue to lay during the winter. Even with a supplemental light, your birds are going to take a break to molt if they are over a year old.

I am a middle of the road person: I let my birds take a break until laying dwindles to the point where my fridge is getting emptied of eggs, and my egg customers start begging for more eggs. Then, I add the light, and increase 1 extra hour/week over current day length. It takes them a while to start laying with this approach, but it works well for me.

You will also hear that supplemental lighting should be provided in the morning, so the birds have a natural end of day. I will never do it that way b/c my roo would be crowing at 2:30 AM. And the birds would be laying at that time, so I would be getting up to a lot of frozen eggs. So, when I provide supplemental lighting, my final schedule looks like this: On 6:30 Am - 10:00 AM, and again 3:00 PM to 8:30 PM. I put a solar LED landscaping light near my warm spectrum supplemental light. This keeps the solar battery charged, so when the supplemental light goes out, they have a night light for a bit. Even without the night light, the birds were never caught off the roost at lights out.

This year, I have a lot of new pullets, so am not needing to give them a light.

Thank you, lazy gardener, great information. Please see my next post.

 

[riversbendhen]

My girls were hatched in April so this is their first year. I have 5 layers. I feed them Dunmor Layer Crumbles (not sure % protein). I also let them free-range most days. One is a bantam who was our first to lay in August. She laid every day for a month and then quit (any ideas?). The other four began laying in September and only one is still laying occasionally. Two of them are molting heavily around their neck and head (seems late to be doing this isn't it?) which I thought they didn't do their first year. I had planned to allow them to lay naturally until after a few very cold days of cleaning their coop I had a little chat with them... "Hey ladies, if I am going to be out here freezing my tush off for you the least you can do is offer up a few more eggs for me!" I started using the light on a timer two hours before sunrise and three hours after sunset (14 hours of light daily). It's been week or so but no change so far. I'm wondering how long it takes to make a difference or if I should be bothering at all.

Again, thank you for any advice!

 

[aart]

Hey MichiNeighbor!
Sometimes pullets do molt their first fall, it's often not a full molt.

Probably shouldn't have bothered with the lights,
as Solstice is just around the corner.
BUT
Now that you've started the lights best to leave them go,
another drastic change in lighting could really throw a wrench in the machinery.
It's not quite like flipping the switch and can take up to 6 weeks for them to 'kick in' and they may finish the molt before laying again.
Here's a pretty good article on supplemental lighting.

Might think about going to a higher protein all flock type feed, and offering oyster shells in a separate container for the calcium the laying birds need. It's simpler, especially if you like to feed treats and plan on adding more chicks.

Here's my take on feed:
I like to feed a flock raiser/starter/grower/finisher type feed with 20% protein crumble full time to all ages and genders, as non-layers(chicks, males and molting birds) do not need the extra calcium that is in layer feed and chicks and molters can use the extra protein. Makes life much simpler to store and distribute one type of chow that everyone can eat. I do grind up the crumbles (in the blender) for the chicks for the first week or so.

The higher protein crumble also offsets the 8% protein scratch grains and other kitchen/garden scraps I like to offer daily. I adjust the amounts of other feeds to get the protein levels desired with varying situations.
Calcium should be available at all times for the layers, I use oyster shell mixed with rinsed, dried, crushed chicken egg shells in a separate container. I also regularly offer digestive granite grit in the appropriate size, throw it out on the ground with the scratch. http://www.jupefeeds-sa.com/documents/GraniteGrit.pdf.

Animal protein (a freshly trapped mouse, a bit of canned mackerel, mealworms, a little cheese - beware the salt content, meat scraps) is provided once in while and during molting and/or if I see any feather eating.

 

[riversbendhen]

Hey MichiNeighbor!
Sometimes pullets do molt their first fall, it's often not a full molt.

Probably shouldn't have bothered with the lights,
as Solstice is just around the corner.
BUT
Now that you've started the lights best to leave them go,
another drastic change in lighting could really throw a wrench in the machinery.
It's not quite like flipping the switch and can take up to 6 weeks for them to 'kick in' and they may finish the molt before laying again.
Here's a pretty good article on supplemental lighting.

Might think about going to a higher protein all flock type feed, and offering oyster shells in a separate container for the calcium the laying birds need. It's simpler, especially if you like to feed treats and plan on adding more chicks.

Here's my take on feed:
I like to feed a flock raiser/starter/grower/finisher type feed with 20% protein crumble full time to all ages and genders, as non-layers(chicks, males and molting birds) do not need the extra calcium that is in layer feed and chicks and molters can use the extra protein. Makes life much simpler to store and distribute one type of chow that everyone can eat. I do grind up the crumbles (in the blender) for the chicks for the first week or so.

The higher protein crumble also offsets the 8% protein scratch grains and other kitchen/garden scraps I like to offer daily. I adjust the amounts of other feeds to get the protein levels desired with varying situations.
Calcium should be available at all times for the layers, I use oyster shell mixed with rinsed, dried, crushed chicken egg shells in a separate container. I also regularly offer digestive granite grit in the appropriate size, throw it out on the ground with the scratch. http://www.jupefeeds-sa.com/documents/GraniteGrit.pdf.

Animal protein (a freshly trapped mouse, a bit of canned mackerel, mealworms, a little cheese - beware the salt content, meat scraps) is provided once in while and during molting and/or if I see any feather eating.

Great advice! Thanks! Sounds like I need to add more protein other than the handful of meal worms I give daily. PS. I love the Chicken Chick. Great article!

 

[aart]

Great advice! Thanks! Sounds like I need to add more protein other than the handful of meal worms I give daily. PS. I love the Chicken Chick. Great article!

Well, meal worms are better than other things for treats, at least they're getting some animal protein.
Chicken Chick has some good info, amongst the plethora of ads,
but the lighting info is from an avian vet that works in the poultry industry.

 

[PirateGirl]

@aart

Animal protein (a freshly trapped mouse, a bit of canned mackerel, mealworms, a little cheese - beware the salt content, meat scraps) is provided once in while and during molting and/or if I see any feather eating.[/QUOTE]

So when my cat brings me mice/voles can/should I just toss them in the coop for the chickens? I had never thought of this until you mentioned it here even though I had heard that a chicken will supposedly eat a mouse. I would feel good about the life cycle this way for sure. I got the cat to keep the rodents out of the chicken coop and garden and if the chickens then eat the rodents we've turned the rodent problem into a positive solution.