Winter laying

[Molnut]

I am a small egg producer. My hens are pastured.
I have a new batch of hens who started laying in September. They are Anconas, New Hampshire Reds, Welsummers and Cuckoos. They were selected for their egg colour and not necessarily for their winter laying abilities.
My question: would giving them artificial lighting this winter make a difference in their laying ?
Thanks

 

[Abriana]

It would, but I personally don’t think you should encourage them to lay in th winter. Their bodies have a natural schedule and personally think it it is better to allow them to stick to that. You can put lighting in the coop if you want to, I am not sure how long you leave it in or even what light to buy, but I’m sure some experts will chime in soon.

 

[wamtazlady]

I wouldn't bother with the light. Your first year pullets should lay through the winter. Last time I had first year pullets I was getting between 6-10 eggs a day from 13 pullets all winter long.

 

[RonP]

Birds stop laying naturally when light hours diminish (and colder temperatures set in) due to higher survival hatching rates, and when food and other resources are scarce..

This does not occur naturally near the equator, where light hours remain near constant. The birds and chickens flourish producing year round without a break.

Ask any Ecuadorian, Brazilian, Colombian... where backyard flocks are very common.

That said,

This topic comes up often, my reply to a previous query, hope it helps:

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

My coop gets 16 hours of light 365 days per year. Birds continue to molt regardless, as they do if living on or close to the equator, where the light hours are consistent all year.

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, in the coop, and two 4.8 watt LEDs for the outside run.
All bulbs are warm white - 3000K

I light the run because I found the birds huddled outside the coop door in the dark one 5:30am morning... They have access to the run 24/7, as it is as secure as the coop.

The lights are on only when it is dark enough outside to be necessary (photocell).
The time on very closely mimics my Summer Solstice.

The second timer is set to go on at 8:30pm, off at 9:30pm, a diffused 200 lumen LED 4 watt bulb. This dim light allows the birds to settle in before all lights out. No stress as immediate darkness may induce.

This system costs less than $5 per year to operate. My egg production does not fluctuate due to seasonal lighting deficiencies.

Hope this helps.

 

[Molnut]

Thanks for the responses. RonP I have a question, at what time of year do your hens molt?

 

[RonP]

Most of my current flock of around 12, consists of the hybrids that produce quite well for the first 2 years or so. As such, I cannot tell them apart very well. There always seems to be 2 or 3 raggedy looking ones in the group, year round. This morning, there are 2 as I write this. I do not know how often they molt, I do not track nor do I care to. All seem very healthy, some are now in their 7th year, I have 3 heritage birds remaining in the flock, now in their 11th and 12th years...

In my experience, the hybrids do not have the long life expectancy as the heritage breeds.

They do not go completely bald, or have severe molts. Just a disheveled look, missing feathers, as if they survived an attack…

At first, I thought they did…

This may be breed specific as I have had heritage breeds explode their feathers under the same conditions.

Hope this helps.

 

[Molnut]

It does help, thank you. I will look into the second, less bright, lighting. It does seem to me that it is closer to natural daylight. Getting "lights up" at 3 am and waiting 4+ hours to get natural daylight seems a bit much.

 

[RonP]

Thanks to the advances in LED lighting technologies and reduced retail pricing, my run is now lit up like a baseball stadium, except that I use warm 3000k light. I often see my flock enjoying the outdoors soon after all lights on, and active doing their chicken things until the “stadium lights” go dark. This seems especially true for the younger flock members.

The 30-minute low-level coop lighting during the evening seems more than sufficient to guide the outdoor birds safely, calmly back into the coop, onto their roosts, and settle down before all lights go dark for the remaining night.

All stress free…

 

[Molnut]

So, it's a little bit like watching the game .... chicken style
Your approach makes a lot of sense and I am going to apply it to my coops.
Don't want to be a bother, but do you have some examples of these light bulbs? Both types of them?
Much appreciated.
Michele

 

[RonP]

So, it's a little bit like watching the game .... chicken style
Your approach makes a lot of sense and I am going to apply it to my coops.
Don't want to be a bother, but do you have some examples of these light bulbs? Both types of them?
Much appreciated.
Michele

Click here for the new run lighting. I am thrilled with the response the birds are giving me!

Click here for something similar to my coop lighting. There are so many new products on the market...