Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[DaveOmak]

I have an 8 watt LED light on for 14 hours in the coop sinfe it's dark in there. It goes off around 8pm. The girls know what time it goes off. I've never had one off the roost. Most of them are up on when it starts getting really dark outside. They will be napping in the light when I check them.

The "experts" recommend early morning have the light come on.... have them head to the roost in natural sunset...

 

[Carolei]

I got my five girls as 2-day-old chicks last June, so this is their first winter. I had read that egg production is based on length of daylight, so I wasn't expecting many eggs until spring arrived, since I'm not providing supplemental light. My chickens all started laying at 24 to 28 weeks of age and I am getting 3 to 5 eggs every day -- I'm averaging 2 dozen eggs per week from five birds with only 8.5 hours of daylight! Are my birds odd-ball exceptions, or do pullets typically lay well their first winter even when the days are super short? My girls are two buff orpingtons, an australorp, a speckled sussex, and a barred rock. Thanks!

 

[Hinotori]

Quote:
I know. The light comes on at 4am, which is the earliest my husband wants to listen to crowing. Duke and Dudley start it and wakes up the roosters out in the unlit pens, who have to crow back.

 

[Hinotori]

I got my five girls as 2-day-old chicks last June, so this is their first winter. I had read that egg production is based on length of daylight, so I wasn't expecting many eggs until spring arrived, since I'm not providing supplemental light. My chickens all started laying at 24 to 28 weeks of age and I am getting 3 to 5 eggs every day -- I'm averaging 2 dozen eggs per week from five birds with only 8.5 hours of daylight! Are my birds odd-ball exceptions, or do pullets typically lay well their first winter even when the days are super short? My girls are two buff orpingtons, an australorp, a speckled sussex, and a barred rock. Thanks!

All my pullets have laid well the first year. Only the cold snap we had on this side effected the New Hampshires. Didn't even make the EEs pause.

 

[Chickielady]

The "experts" recommend early morning have the light come on.... have them head to the roost in natural sunset...

I do that exactly.
And sorry I have been "gone" so long, but dealing with weird ER & surgical issues, anyways, I advise you to read this book by Janet Stromberg as far as your questions about extreme cold & cock bird's infertility.

EXTREMELY good book to read for anyone hatching, and how to handle hatching eggs, and your breeding stock.

There are more, I just have not had time, sorry !
Miss ya'll !

 

[Aliciahess]

My girls are just starting up again. Ducks have been going strong all winter. I did hear that cold temps affect a roosters 'drive' and how fertile he is.

 

[CarolynF]

Seems to be an undecided subject - extra light in the coop. I've decided to give it a try just to see what happens. We've been without eggs now for about 2 months and as much as I enjoy their company, we DID get them for eggs.

I've spent the last week building a microproccessor controlled light system that automatically calculates sunrise and sunset for my LAT/LON. Based on the sunset time, it turns the lights on 14 hours prior, and then turns them off at sunrise to conserve power. This way the birds always have the natural fading daylight in the evening to mosey back to the coop, get a bite to eat and get up on the roost with no sudden "lights out". Lights are an LED strip powered by a 6V battery and a small solar panel to trickle charge it during the day.

Will post some pics and results in the next few days.

Cool! Very high tech. I may have to see your for a tutorial! Looking forward to pics.
Just an FYI, my girls have no problem at all being up on the perch by the time the lights turn off. We have a camera in their coop and I'm surprised to see them nodding off long before the light turns off! It's a 60 watt incandescent and it's rather small space, so it's definitely well lit.

 

[CarolynF]

I have an 8 watt LED light on for 14 hours in the coop sinfe it's dark in there. It goes off around 8pm. The girls know what time it goes off. I've never had one off the roost. Most of them are up on when it starts getting really dark outside. They will be napping in the light when I check them.

Yes, same with mine.

 

[ochochicas]

My two roosters are standing next to each other on the top roost tonight. How weird is that? I hope they don't try to kill each other in the middle of the night.

 

[Amberjem]

My two roosters are standing next to each other on the top roost tonight. How weird is that? I hope they don't try to kill each other in the middle of the night.

I see my two roosters up on the perch side by side alot even grooming each other...