What to do when its dark?

[ashleigh92]

Hi all im new to keeping chickens and never had a winter with them yet. At the moment its light nights so been going up to perch at about 9ish. However im unsure what happens when its winter and it gets dark at 4. Will they just go up to perch? But then there spending 14+ hours in the coop. Is that good for them?
Ano it may sound like a daft question but im unsure. Theyre just use to roaming free all day and it seems like a long time to spend in their coop.

 

[GuineaFowling]

I normally let them roost early. The hens know when to roost and they will go to bed early in the winter months. However, if you want them to continue to lay well in the winter you would have to put a light in the coop. I did this with my layers. I put the light on around half past four (thats when it begins to get dark) The hens will go in and find its still light. I let them play in the coop with the light until 7 and then I begin to slowly dim the light and it will be off by 8. Of course if you don't have a lamp the can be dimmed or don't have the time to stay in and slowly dim it, just turn it off but slowly so their eyes get used to the darkness.

 

[RonP]

There are a lot of opinions on supplementing light to keep the chickens laying during time period where there is less than 12-14 hours of available daylight.

My coop gets 16 hours of light 351 days per year.
I turn lights off for 14 days to have birds go into moult.

Having had to install electricity for the thermostatically controlled water heater, I took advantage and installed a lighting system.

My system has two timers. The first is set to turn the lights on at 5am, off at 9pm.
Power goes on, passes through a photocell, then to a 300 lumen LED bulb, 4.8 watts..
The lights are on only when it is dark enough outside to be necessary.

The second timer is set to go on at 8:30pm, off at 9:30pm, a diffused 200 lumen LED 4 watt bulb.
This low light allows the birds to settle in before all lights out.

This system costs less than $3 per year to operate.

 

[ashleigh92]

These have all been good points and thank you for sharing with me, I shall install some lighting in the coop before winter comes.