[steve_pr]

With the shortening days egg production has all but finished.  I have read that provided artificial lighting to recreate the longer days will solve this problem.  Is anyone using it?


If so does it work and how do yo apply?  For example, lights on inside for a couple of hours before it is daylight and you open the door. In the evening will they go in if inside is light and outside is dark?  Need to understand how to set timers!


Steve

[Clansman]

It works, light or to be more specific daylength is what stimulates laying.

It can be done with natural light (spring/summer) or artificial.

As long as they receive a minimum of 14 hours light in any 24 hour period they will be stimulated to lay.

Most people use 16 hours light just to be safe.

They don't need a high intensity, the old rule we always used was that if you could read a newspaper it was bright enough.

I use small LED's running off a car battery which is charged by a small solar panel, brighter than is needed but cheap to run.

Mine are currently set to come on at 4am - 8am then again from 4pm to 8pm so they have light from 4am - 8pm (16 hours)

I alter this as the natural daylength changes so they always overlap but keep the 4am on time and 8pm off time (or whatever you use) constant or you will throw them off for a while.

As long as they get 16 hours light per day it can be split into different periods, a repeated cycle of 2 hours light and one hour dark would work just as well however not quite as practical.

They go inside once its dark and get accustomed to the lights going off at night.

I have three bulbs running, which switch off in 10 minute intervals from 7.40pm dimming the lighting slowly so they know darkness is coming.

they will all be up roosting on the perches when the first bulb goes off.

[Anke]

YES we always light at least one of our houses to make sure we have got eggs through the winter. WE have the light on from 4.30pm at the moment until 10pm. Can't have it on in the morning as neighbours complain about early crowing (but they do want eggs all year.. ). Seems to work ok, but as we have lost our house with young hens we only have the older batch laying and it is only about 4 eggs max from 9 hens... not sure if they get any better come spring though...
 
Ours is a simple outside house light with energy saving light bulb, connected via a long cable/extension lead to the socket in the garden shed (or goathouse depending which house is lit) and there is a simple 24h-timer in the socket. Ours just goes off suddenly, but they are on their perches as soon as they go in when it gets dark outside, never had any crashes at switch-off...

[fsmnutter]

Last year we did this, as we had just got the chickens around this time of year and they completely stopped laying on moving for 6 weeks until artificially lit
We found putting the light on in the morning was best, adjusting the time to keep to at least 12 hours of 'daylight' depending on when the sun set. This way, as sunset arrived, they went to bed naturally, as we weren't usually home at sunset to put them away, and if given artificial light til later they wouldn't roost properly.
Haven't yet done it this year, but are getting paltry amounts of eggs, although almost everyone is moulting so this may settle once they've moulted, and there should be some reaching POL.

[Stereo]

Anyone find an increase in pecking / aggression using lights? If I go into the hen house and night and turn the torch on, they will start pecking each other where they were roosting quite quietly before. Our first big batch of hens was from an 'organic' egg farm and they used lights. The poor birds were pecked to bits. It wasn't moulting, it was pecking for sure.

Half our hens are early 2013 hatch with a few older ones and 80% are in moult at the mo. The rest are late 2013 hatch so coming up to POL. Getting about a dozen eggs from 60 birds at the mo.

[darkbrowneggs]

Quite a useful little link here


http://extension.umaine.edu/publications/2227e/

[HesterF]

I don't sell eggs routinely at the moment so no customers to please but I'm puzzled about the 14 hours. We're at about ten hours of daylight naturally now and yet I've got chickens - and the odd duck - who are still laying. Given I've been expecting them to stop for the last two months, I've been stockpiling eggs - to the extent where I made scrambled eggs to feed back to the chickens the other day because I was worried about how many I've got and thought I'd best use up some of the older ones. At this rate, I'll be able to last through until they start laying again (or in the case of this year's hatch start for the first time) in 'spring' (Jan/Feb).

H

[chrismahon]

We had lights on in a large coop over Winter. We gave then 12 hours of light effectively by putting lights on in the morning only, on the basis that if they go off suddenly at night they can't find the perches. It worked, but the mess in the coop was too much for us and we stopped. They need at least a two week break from laying anyway I was advised. I can imagine a stress issue being created from hens moving in a very confined space for hours -almost battery cage proportions.

[Stereo]

We had lights on in a large coop over Winter. We gave then 12 hours of light effectively by putting lights on in the morning only, on the basis that if they go off suddenly at night they can't find the perches. It worked, but the mess in the coop was too much for us and we stopped. They need at least a two week break from laying anyway I was advised. I can imagine a stress issue being created from hens moving in a very confined space for hours -almost battery cage proportions.

I have to agree, ours seem to go in only to roost or lay and are out the rest of the day. Some of the younger birds seem to stay in and bumble about. Probably depends a lot on breed too. Our Welsummers, Cream Legbars and Marans have all stopped dead. No blue or brown eggs for weeks but the sussex and speckledies and other mungrels seem to keep going. Just means boring eggs for the customers for a while. I have also noticed that demand from our customers has dropped off since summer though but I suspect we get a lot of passing trade from holiday makers.

[Clansman]

I'm puzzled about the 14 hours. We're at about ten hours of daylight naturally now and yet I've got chickens - and the odd duck - who are still laying.

There will be birds who lay right through winter on just a few hours natural daylight but to stimulate the majority into lay a minimum of 14 hours light would be needed.

Darkbrowneggs link highlighted a good point in that if they are given over 17 hours light per day the egg production reduces again, so be careful not to leave the lights on too long or constantly.