Using a Light to keep production up? Pros/Cons

[aart]

For those of you that have lights that come on 4:00 or 5:00 am, do you have food and water for them or do they have to wait until you get out to the coop when the sun comes up?

I keep feed and water in coop anyway, but yes they should have feed and water every hour they are awake.

 

[woodmort]

For those of you that have lights that come on 4:00 or 5:00 am, do you have food and water for them or do they have to wait until you get out to the coop when the sun comes up?

My birds have food and water in the coop 24/7 so no problem. I usually don't even let them out to free-range until around 11 am and lock them down at dark. Usually by the time they're turned lose they've finished laying too so I don't have to search for hidden eggs.

 

[woodmort]

BTW, if I remember correctly the origin of the domestic chicken is from SE Asia where there is pretty much a constant 13 hrs of daylight year around.

 

[GC-Raptor]

For those of you that have lights that come on 4:00 or 5:00 am, do you have food and water for them or do they have to wait until you get out to the coop when the sun comes up?

Both my coops are big enough and have enough ventilation and are rodent and predator proof (after I close pop door) to keep feed and water in coops 24/7.
The hens jump off roosts and eat and drink as soon as I turn on the lights at 5am. .I also open the pop door to their pens, which is lit with 3 LED bulbs each. . My hens are hungry and thirsty when I wake them. GC

 

[Maiahr]

I am not an expert and not sure if this is off or on topic, but people here in general do not provide extra light during the winter. Chicken molt in the fall so their bodies are resting then. Some people (not all) give hot peppers and other warm food to keep their body temperature high and this way there is no reduction in egg laying. Again, I'm not an expert.

 

[lifein1840]

I keep feed and water in coop anyway, but yes they should have feed and water every hour they are awake.

I used lights one year but hated getting up that early to take out food and water. I didn't want them to be awake with no food or water, but with no heat in my coop, I couldn't leave water in there and I never leave food in the coop overnight. Thanks so much for the reply.

 

[lifein1840]

I keep feed and water in coop anyway, but yes they should have feed and water every hour they are awake.

I used lights one year but hated getting up that early to take out food and water. I didn't want them to be awake with no food or water, but with no heat in my coop, I couldn't leave water in there and I never leave food in the coop overnight. Thanks so much for the reply.

 

[Acre4Me]

I agree that there are a million other things to worry about when raising chickens, and I'm not criticizing your husbandry practices. Supplemental lighting is perfectly valid and effective. I'm only answering the question asked in the original post.
I understand your other post now. I thought you were implying that your hens did not increase in production despite using artificial lighting. Molting is a much needed break period, but so is the natural changing of seasons.
Of course a hen that has never seen supplemental light will eventually stop laying, but she will last longer than one that has never stopped. That's just logic.. there's only so many ova in the reproductive tract. If they use it up faster, they'll run out faster.

Here's one study's abstract that talks about increased ovarian cancer in hens maintained under supplemental light year round.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4104488
"Adenocarcinoma of the ovary is the most common epithelial neoplasm in the entire body. The relation to egg production was demonstrated in an experiment where adenocarcinomas were induced in the ovaries of 17 out of 19 hens by maintaining them throughout life in a stable environment with 12 hours of fluorescent lighting daily. Egg production rapidly reached a maximum; it then declined over 3 years, with no seasonal rest periods. No tumors appeared in control hens kept under normal lighting conditions with seasonal variations."

Fatty liver hemorrhagic syndrome is primarily caused by incorrect diet, but high levels of estradiol also contribute. When estrogen levels rise in order to start and maintain egg production, the fat stores in the liver also consequently increase, predisposing the bird to FLHS.
Not sure if you can read this full article or not, but there is relevant info in there (not so much in the abstract).
https://journals-sagepub-com.srv-proxy1.library.tamu.edu/doi/full/10.1177/0300985813503569

just a few notes: looked up ova in chickens. Approx 4,000 according to what I could find, so not likely to run out, would guess age factors would stop/slow production first.

studies: the fluorescent one doesn’t apply across the board bc most backyard keepers don’t use fluorescent light and/or only add light in winter. Wonder what breeds of chickens in the study, how many etc. My background has included reading many hundreds of scientific studies, statistics and experimental design, so two random studies just provide interesting reading.

Whether someone adds light or not is based on a few things, including electricity in/near the coop. But, overall it isn’t detrimental in my point of view, probably bc I’ve experienced more things that are truly detrimental to the chickens ...see note above on kid and grass/whole corn

 

[aart]

but with no heat in my coop, I couldn't leave water in there

Heated waterer, don't need to heat the whole coop.

 

[Tesumph]

just a few notes: looked up ova in chickens. Approx 4,000 according to what I could find, so not likely to run out, would guess age factors would stop/slow production first.

studies: the fluorescent one doesn’t apply across the board bc most backyard keepers don’t use fluorescent light and/or only add light in winter. Wonder what breeds of chickens in the study, how many etc. My background has included reading many hundreds of scientific studies, statistics and experimental design, so two random studies just provide interesting reading.

Whether someone adds light or not is based on a few things, including electricity in/near the coop. But, overall it isn’t detrimental in my point of view, probably bc I’ve experienced more things that are truly detrimental to the chickens ...see note above on kid and grass/whole corn

I come from a background of research as well, and therefore appreciate two “random” studies far more than anecdotal evidence.
Just because something is less detrimental than something else doesn’t make it harmless. I don’t quite understand that logic.

That being said, I’m not trying to convince you, and I don’t have time to write a dissertation on artificial lighting in chicken coops.
Have a good day and thank you for the discussion.