White Rock Pullets

[Bircheggfarm20]

i am gettin white rock pullets this june and they wont be laying till November the barn will only be open when days are warm so in november when their becoming sexually mature they will be on artificial light should i place them on 16 hrs artifial light or give them 12 and then in spring when days are goin longer let them start laying naturally? i want these hens for breeding

 

[PeeperKeeper]

"I was told"..... That, you can use the artificial light to encourage egg laying, BUT... it will shorten a hens productive years as she is born with only so many ovary eggs. The other consideration is....Will Mr. Roo have the sperm count up due to cooler conditions in order to fertilize eggs? I live in KY and My 2 RIR roos covered 40 hens. I collected eggs in March and had a 95% hatch rate.

 

[Bircheggfarm20]

i no all about Laying hens i was a Farmer of 1000 head leghorns. I wanna no about the lighting if i let them wait till june will the hatch rate be higher will it be better for them

 

[whippet128]

let them wait. they will lay during cold months and the egg size will increase by spring. It is better for the chicken. I use no artifical light and have good laying of pullet in the winter. then come summer they go nuts with nice large eggs.

 

[Bircheggfarm20]

ok wut i thought How many hours of artificial light should i give them cuz the barn has no windows?