Winter Lighting for extending the day for cleaning

[MSWingate]

Hello,

I live in Western MA and am looking to add light to my run/coop to extend the daylight hours so that I can take care of the hens after work. I am looking to see if others are doing something similar. I have an extension cord for my waterer, so I could plug it it. But what I really want, is the light to stay on for an hour or so, and slowly dim, just like natural light. If you do something like this, what specific light is working for you.

Maybe an easier question would be: Does going into my coop after dark to clean and check on the hens a bad idea? This is what I have been doing, and some will move around and get off the roost. I just don't want to disturb them if doing so will through them off. Way over thinking? LOL

 

[nuthatched]

Overthrowing, they'll be fine. I check mine after dark all the time.

 

[aart]

I do a head count and add some feed after dark.
I wear a dimish headlight so as not to get them up and running around.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Hello,

I live in Western MA and am looking to add light to my run/coop to extend the daylight hours so that I can take care of the hens after work. I am looking to see if others are doing something similar. I have an extension cord for my waterer, so I could plug it it. But what I really want, is the light to stay on for an hour or so, and slowly dim, just like natural light. If you do something like this, what specific light is working for you.

Maybe an easier question would be: Does going into my coop after dark to clean and check on the hens a bad idea? This is what I have been doing, and some will move around and get off the roost. I just don't want to disturb them if doing so will through them off. Way over thinking? LOL

I consider that thinking, not overthinking.

Light is very important to chickens in different ways. The days getting longer or shorter have a big effect on when they molt and even if they lay eggs. Light is also a trigger telling them when to release a yolk to start the next day's egg. That way the egg should be laid during the day, not at night when they are on the roost.

Being consistent with light is more likely to have an effect as compared to a one-off occurrence. I've also read that if the length of the light is less than 15 minutes it is not going to have an effect. If I have an emergency I do what I need to do. But, when I go down at night to lock them up and do one last check for eggs I turn on the overhead light while I'm down there, less than 15 minutes. If one hops down on the floor I don't worry about it, I just turn the light out and leave. They will work it out without harm. If I'm going to be down there longer than 15 minutes, say I'm checking for mites, I use a flashlight.

 

[lomine]

This time of year, I'm doing the evening chores in the dark most days. I also use a headlamp. The one I got has six different settings, bright spotlight, dim spotlight, bright wide, dim wide, red, and stropping red. Most of the time I'm using the bright wide setting, but the red can be handy too. The birds don't really react to it but I can still see what I'm doing. It's also helpful with the horses so I'm not blinding them with the regular white light.

 

[MSWingate]

This time of year, I'm doing the evening chores in the dark most days. I also use a headlamp. The one I got has six different settings, bright spotlight, dim spotlight, bright wide, dim wide, red, and stropping red. Most of the time I'm using the bright wide setting, but the red can be handy too. The birds don't really react to it but I can still see what I'm doing. It's also helpful with the horses so I'm not blinding them with the regular white light.

Thank you lomine very helpful info. Ordered my headlamp with red lamp option.

 

[MSWingate]

I consider that thinking, not overthinking.

Light is very important to chickens in different ways. The days getting longer or shorter have a big effect on when they molt and even if they lay eggs. Light is also a trigger telling them when to release a yolk to start the next day's egg. That way the egg should be laid during the day, not at night when they are on the roost.

Being consistent with light is more likely to have an effect as compared to a one-off occurrence. I've also read that if the length of the light is less than 15 minutes it is not going to have an effect. If I have an emergency I do what I need to do. But, when I go down at night to lock them up and do one last check for eggs I turn on the overhead light while I'm down there, less than 15 minutes. If one hops down on the floor I don't worry about it, I just turn the light out and leave. They will work it out without harm. If I'm going to be down there longer than 15 minutes, say I'm checking for mites, I use a flashlight.

Thanks Ridgerunner, puts my mind at ease.