To light or not to Light

[desertgirl]

I posted this in anothr thread, but so far no luck and I would love some input....

Question-how much will it prolong their lives if I chose not to use lights during the winter months (i.e. not give them a break)? Could someone tell me more about the pros and cons of lights vs. no lights? I want to do the right thing, but I also want eggs!

 

[gritsar]

DG, there are a million opinions on this subject. I sent you a PM.

 

[desertgirl]

Thanks!!!

 

[joyous]

I am new also and I studied and studied the pros and cons and opinions of lighting the coop! Finally I decided on a happy medium. I have the lights turn on at 6 am before I go to work, and have them on a couple of hours after dark. Not to extend laying, but to be easier for me to tend to them with my schedule. Really not enough to hurt them, nor to help egg laying but for some reason it seems sane to me. Good luck!

 

[Mac in Wisco]

I just answered in the other post, but here are my thoughts again:

That's a tough question to answer.

Pros of lights: more eggs

Cons of lights: higher electric bill (slightly higher, unless you have a very, very large coop), less natural for the hens

Giving them supplemental light doesn't necessarily shorten their life span. Most people just find it more natural for the hens to do as they please without artificially stimulating them to lay. While some here have birds that are several years old or older, I think that most backyard flocks have a fairly high turn over rate anyways, due to predators and sickness or disease. Along those lines I advocate giving them the supplemental light.

There is no right or wrong...

 

[desertgirl]

Good points, all. Much appreciated!

 

[RevaVirginia]

Buy em a "Clucker". Cluck on, cluck off...the clucker.

Chicken strobes.

 

[digitS']

You have just about the same climate as I have, DesertGirl. It is just a little colder and snowier here, probably. On December 21st, you will have about 10 hours of sunshine and I will have about 8 hours. There is higher ground to both the east and west so the sun isn't up even that long.

My birds would have to sit in the cold and dark for 16 hours every night if they didn't have supplemental lighting. I don't think that would be a healthy situation.

I honestly don't know what I'd do about light south of 35° latitude but I know what I do here at 48° North latitude. I give them a light

.

Steve