Supplemental light or not?

[Millroad]

I'm confused about whether to use supplemental light in our winter coop, and if so when I need to start. For layers I have 10 red sex-link and 3 Ameracauna pullets (as well as a couple of Khaki Campbell ducks) who have been laying (and laying well - those red stars!) since June. I was planning to use a light, starting around now, but the guy at the feed store (who has a similar flock make-up to mine) said that he thought we would do better next season (i.e., lay better) if we didn't use a light - that when he tried using the light, he thought it somehow threw them off of laying the following season. He also said that his red stars laid just fine in the winter with no supplemental light. So, I have some questions for you veterans, who I hope can comment on the veracity of that story . ..

Will they lay well through the winter with no supplemental light? Will they lay some but slow down? If they slow down or stop, is the rest useful? Do they lay better the following season with a winter break? If you recommend a light, is the timing critical (in terms of both when I start and how many hours per day)?

THANK YOU!!

[akane]

Light should make no difference in how well they produce later on provided they are fed well enough over winter to keep up production year round. I'm not convinced that it has any impact on how many years they lay well or how well they lay in the next year. We found no correlation or anyone else able to really prove a correlation rather than a coincidence happening one year and not others. Most years we've been unable to use light since it took 3 heavy duty extension cords to get electricity to the original coop but even when we added light they came out of winter in great shape and started laying even more in the spring, aside from the ones who went broody the instant temps were warmer.

Some breeds will lay fine over winter without light but it varies a lot. All you can do is try it and if you see a huge drop in egg counts as the daylight lessens decide whether you want to add light. If you add a light it is best to have it come on in the morning. If it comes on in the evening then there will be no slow lessening of light to tell the birds to go to roost and if the light suddenly clicks off without enough moonlight or other light sources they may get stuck on the floor. Chickens can't really see in the dark any better than we can and they don't seem smart enough to do things by feel and memory. You want to make a minimum of 12hrs a day of light so amount will depend on how short your days get. For best results make it bright enough you could read a newspaper at chicken level.

[gone-a-milkin]

I have never felt the need to push my birds through the winter.
Lots of people do and it is well accepted.
For me, it borders on "pets that run on electricity" like koi ponds and tropical fish, or lizards needing heat rocks.
I just am not going to go there. Plus, my coop is away from any power.
I just stockpile eggs to hold my family over until they get laying good again.
Eggs keep a long time.

I suppose solar lights would be an option to consider.

[chickenmommy]

Originally Posted by akane

If it comes on in the evening then there will be no slow lessening of light to tell the birds to go to roost and if the light suddenly clicks off without enough moonlight or other light sources they may get stuck on the floor. Chickens can't really see in the dark any better than we can and they don't seem smart enough to do things by feel and memory.

I never gave that a thought. I have always had the light come on for a few hours in the am and then also some in the pm to get that 12 hours of light. Never even thought about the lessening of light being natural and a sudden shut off posing problems. That must be the reason for the up and down from the roost until it is finally dark. Hmmm.
Thanks. Oh, and the girls probably thank you, too.

"make it bright enough you could read a newspaper at chicken level".

[houndlover]

Lights shorten their laying lifespan. Mine rest, we go without eggs (or break down and buy some) and often lay for 7-10 years (spring to fall). Some people don't care, use lights (give them 12 hours) and kill off their layers every other year. The downside is that in order to get them to lay all winter, you have to feed them more. With the price of feed, those eggs get very expensive. My layers eat about 1/2 as much in the winter as they do other times of the year, probably because they spend 14-15 hours a day on the roost.

[suelandress]

Or you might end up with my situation. I leave the lights on from 6 am till about 9 pm. However, the chickens all go into the coop when it starts to get dark outside, hop up on their roosts and go to sleep. So unless the light is peering through their closed eyelids, I'm probably just lighting the way for the rodents.

[Dazlin]

I had my cochen hens in a coop that didnt let much light in. Last winter, I noticed a big drop in eggs. We put a low volt garden light in on a timer, and within 4 days egg count jumped. Now, I'm moving them them all to a new coop, and will get those new solar lights, that don't need the sun. We also put a clear plastic panel on another smaller coops roof...but it's leaky, and hot in summer. So, it's really up to you...if you want the eggs all winter. Now, I also have another coop, and seems everyone lays all year round in there...It's just brighter.

[lauriej57]

Lighting is an individual choice, once you know what the lighting actually does.

Hens need about 14 hours of light to continue laying, or at least lay well. Some pullets, if they begin laying before the days shorten to much, will continue laying without a blip. Others will continue laying throughout the winter, with or without artificial lighting.

Lighting is technically fooling mother nature, and somewhat forcing our girls to lay throughout the winter.

I do it, but I also have 2 coops. It doesn't work out every year, but I try to keep my oldest girls in my smaller coop, where I don't use extended lighting. Though there is a light source in their coop, but I only use it when the weather is frigid cold and blizzardy, and then I'm using it for a heat source.

I do the extended lighting in the larger coop, where I keep my younger girls. I depend on my egg sales to pay for their feed.

Hens are born with a certain amount of eggs in them. Whether artificially forced, or encouraged to keep laying throughout the winter, or just let nature takes its course, they are only going to lay so many eggs in their lifetime.

I encourage my younger ones with lighting their first winter, since they aren't normally going to moult, but the following year, I move them to the other coop. If they continue to lay, good for them, but I like the older ones to be able to take a natural rest.

Regardless of lighting or not, once they hit 2 or 3 years old, they will slow down their egg laying. But the ones who have not been pushed to lay during the winter, will lay for a longer period of time (years) than the ones who have been pushed to lay year round.