What is the best artificial light to use?

[chickadelic]

Hello! I know most of you are busy with Christmas, but maybe a few of you don't much happening like me :/ I just read from a BYC article "Chickens also have better motion sensing ability than we do. This is good to know if you use or plan on using artificial lights in your coop. These lights flicker on and off at a rate above what we can see. This is very annoying to your flock and may cause them to start bullying each other."

I already have a bullying problem and want to make sure I use the proper artificial light. I use a red colored night light so the chickens won't see blood color to help with stopping the bullying.

Any suggestions on lights?

Should I get rid of the bullies? It's a pain having to keep them seperated. Will the bullying ever stop?

 

[Michael OShay]

Welcome to BYC. I'm glad you decided to join our flock. I've never used artificial lights in my coop, but if you do use them, don't leave them on all the time. Set them where they come on before the sun comes up in the morning, not after it goes down in the evening, or you will mess up their roosting cycle. Are your bullies roosters or hens? If they are roosters, I would get rid of them as you don't want to breed that kind of aggression into your flock. If your bullies are hens, you can put some pinless peepers on them which will stop the bullying. Pinless peepers prevent the hens from seeing straight in front of them to peck the other hens, but they will still be able to eat and drink with them by using their peripheral vision. If you are not familiar with pinless peepers, you can see them at https://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/pinless_peepers.html. Please feel free to ask any other questions you may have. We are here to help in any way we can. Good luck with your bullies.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Why are you using a light at all? If it's to promote egg laying in the dark months of year then a small CFL, 14 watt energy efficient bulb on a timer is all you need. Have it turn on at 5 or 4 am and turn off at the time you normally let them out of the coop for the day. Never had a problem with that lighting and it works wonders keeping egg production up. I you like to keep them natural and want the normal slow period of laying, which I do anymore then don't use a light at all.

 

[drumstick diva]

 

[CrazyChookz]

Merry Christmas and

!

 

[Wyandottes7]

Welcome to BYC!

We're glad to have you.

 

[BantamLover21]

Glad you joined us!

 

[chickadelic]

Thanks so much for the feed back. I think I will have to try those pinless peepers or else have to slaughter the two bully hens I started raising chickens without knowing a lot . . . . .boy I am learning a lot about chickens but at their expense. One hen now has a wound . . . . . I hope it doesn't get worse. The bullying problem got out of hand so fast.

I have been leaving the light on all the time but it is very low wattage, just a night light and it's red. If I stop using it all together, will this disrupt their laying? or maybe I will try and get a timer for the light and just time it to come on around 5 am. What do you think?

Thanks again . . . .it helps to have the support

 

[Michael OShay]

You're welcome. I would definitely use the pinless peepers, and suggest sending a P.M. to TwoCrows if you have any questions about them. She has used them several times on flock bullies. I would also put some Blue Kote Wound Dressing on your hen's wound. Not only will it help the wound to heal, the horrible taste will discourage other birds from pecking on the wounded area. If you are not familiar with Blue Kote Wound Dressing, you can see it at https://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/blue_kote_wound_dressing.html. I personally would stop using the night light all together. Your hens laying rate will likely drop off while they adjust to regular daylight hours, but after they get adjusted, it will pick up again, and your hens' laying lives will be longer without the 24 hour a day light. If you do decide to keep using the supplemental light, a timer set for it too come on at 5:00 am and to go off a half hour to an hour (depending on how shaded your coop is) after sunrise would be a good idea.

 

[appps]

You may find them living in a world of constant light has disrupted their laying anyway. Imagine yourself never getting proper dark to sleep. They don't get scared of the dark, or get out of bed to go to the toilet so they don't need a nightlight

The idea with lights for coops is not to give them light all night but rather to recreate the length of a summer day during the shorter winters day months. You are still supposed to give them a night though. You just want to trick them into thinking it's still top laying time

If you are determined to add light (personally I think the birds bodies need the winter downtime to recover from the strain our ridiculous breeding them into egg machines puts on them) I'd go with the 5am suggestion above, even if it disrupts them short term, long term it has to be a heck of a lot better for their health and your flock dynamics.