When do you start turning on the lights?

If you want them to continue laying consistently throughout the winter, they will need to have 12-14 hours of light. There are some who say to leave the light on at night and some who say to have it come on in the morning. IMHO, it's your choice. We are still getting about 13 hours of daylight here (south central Florida) - you are probably not getting that much so you would want to start having the lights come on soon.

 

Hey, any particular spectrum of light preferred? Incandescent vs fluorescent

 

we used rope lights in the coop and run, i heard it just needs to be bright enough to read by, also beware of fire hazards and open bulbs if they are close to chickens

 

I have a solar light that works just great and i started turning it on last week in the AM for about an hr. The last few days I have not due to 2 new chickens that i am integrating and i do not want them in there attacking each other at the moment. So I will turn them back on ASAP. I will try to get the light turned on in another week or so at night for a while as it keeps getting darker earlier. I figured in the ideal dark of winter - trun on at 5 to maybe 7 or 7: 30 PM and on at 5 in the AM and off as it gets light at maybe 7?

 

Do rope lights give off heat? I've never used them for anything before. This is my first winter too. I live in Southern West Virginia and I'm a little worried about them surviving the winter. I have been told not to worry, that they don't need a heat source in the coop, but I'm a worry wart. I know they have feathers and all, but their coop is not weatherproof. I have a few gaps in the wood and the end is 1/2 hardware cloth, 1/2 3/4" plywood. I plan on putting another piece of plywood up to cover most of the hardware cloth. Their door they come in and out of is open all the time so that is ventilation. I figured if I put a light over their roosting poles (that they DON'T roost on) they may actually start roosting on them and get away from the door. Thanks for the help.

 

I had no idea that they needed light! YOu guys here are teaching me so much!!! We always open their coop door in the morning around 4 am when we go to work. Its getting dark here around 7 so that would be 15 hours if we turn the light on in the morning. Would that be too much?

 

I don't think it would be to much. You just don't want the light to go off after dark because they wouldn't be able to see to get to their roost.

 

I have the lights on already from 3pm-8pm. My girl's Hens-ly Palace is under a shingled 25x25 roof (no rain or snow after that disasterous halloween snowstorm last year made airplane wreckage out of my just finished enclosure), so I have 2 heat lamps outside the hen house, and 2 more inside. I also have an Eco-heater safe wall radiant panel attached to the underside of the roof in the henhouse. This keeps it warm(er), even though I leave the henhouse doors wide open for air circulation, year round, which in the NY winter can be a challenge. My girls laid right through last winter like crazy, but are now about 18 months old and molting. I have one Cuckoo Marans who laid about 5 eggs this time last year and then nothing for a whole year. Then today a beautiful chocolate egg! I have new 18 week old started girls coming from Murray Mac Murray any minute.