Artificial lighting the winter

How many people use artificial lighting in their coops to increase egg production?

My egg production has decreased dramatically this winter. From about 30 hens ( Amerecaunas, Barred Rocks, White Chanteclers and a few mixed breeds) I have been getting only 6-8 eggs a day   

I like to let nature do it's thing usually so am hesitant to add lighting because I believe it's good for them to have a rest from laying so much, but this is a bit ridiculous.

I do, about 14 hour of light in total = natural day light+artificial light.
I do a little in the morning and more at night.
I has been cold and my egg production is way down this week.

I got tired of freeloading hens (and gross store eggs) a few weeks back, so I started adding light. I go out and turn it off at around 10 p.m. It took about 10 days, but I have a few laying now.

I figured my hens have had enough of a rest and I put the lights on timers last week. I have one florescent light attached to a timer so it comes on from about 3:15 - 8:45 AM. That extends their day to about 14 hours and already the egg production is increasing.
I don't use extra light in the evening. I like to let night time come naturally to them so they have time to go through their routine of finding a spot to roost.

I have very low lighting set on a timer for 16 hours a day. My chickens have finished their molt and the pullets are now laying so getting lots of eggs.

My girls haven't missed a beat and I'm not using any artificial lighting except the heat lamp.

That's interesting Buff. Are you using a white or a red heat lamp?

I don't usually use artificial light and the pullets that start in the fall chug along all winter. This year with the move, I am only getting 3ish eggs a day. I believe 4 or so are laying though. I may light a bit in January as they did go through a light moult from the stress of the move but I will see in the next month if they start on their own again first.

DCChick wrote:How many people use artificial lighting in their coops to increase egg production?

My egg production has decreased dramatically this winter. From about 30 hens ( Amerecaunas, Barred Rocks, White Chanteclers and a few mixed breeds) I have been getting only 6-8 eggs a day   

I like to let nature do it's thing usually so am hesitant to add lighting because I believe it's good for them to have a rest from laying so much, but this is a bit ridiculous.

I use light to maintain, not increase egg production.

I wouldn't worry about nature doing it's thing. Chickens are not native to our cold climate with its short winter days. They originate from further to the south where days stay longer. So if anything, allowing the chicken to have more 'natural' conditions would be to give them additional light!

I'm just using a red one. I don't even have a window for them. I do open their pop door when it's nice enough to do so.

I have my lights on timers in each coop. Girls have 14hrs per day. Just using it to maintain my supply for myself and my small egg clientele. I just use light bulbs in trouble light fixtures fastened so they can never fall up close to the ceiling giving a nice dim light.

Really not sure if lighting really makes a difference. I say it does. I say it doesn't. I am so on the wall with that. Regardless, my coop lights come on at 3:00 AM, stay on all day until 6:00 PM and then turn off. That gives me light in the morning if I want to enter and light at night when it is dark. Mostly for me I guess. But still on the fence. I don't think it is the light, but lean more towards the temperature. And who knows. I know I will never know, cause I don't heat my coops. So on the fence about if it really makes a difference or not. Not worried about giving the girls a rest, they take a rest if they want to. About 1/3 of my birds or less are laying. I get about 5 eggs a day. Those are the buff orpingtons, probably the pullets from this year, the older ones that molted, not sure if they have begun again. The cochins are not laying, the Coopers began to lay, but stopped, so lighting, don't think it made any difference, but will still use lights. I like that my birds can have lots of time to eat lots, and this extended light period allows that. With the shortened daylength hours, if there was not lighting, the grazing also would be shortened. I dunno. I just like the extended light. Come end of March, the lights will go off. And the birds are on their own. I think that well fed birds are a good thing in winter, my thoughts, and I like that my birds have long daylight hours. Nothing to back this up, just how I feel. Have a wonderful day, CynthiaM.

I leave my heat lamp on all the time(but I am a newbie)  it is a red bulb but the birds are up eating all the time.  The temp in the house is always below zero.  We have to take a long and hard look at our set up... will do it one of these days with some help??? (anyone?) We are getting lots of eggs and I am with Cynthia...my birds just came out of their molt and now it is time to produce something

Chickens are susceptible to the hours of daylight and their Pineal gland regulates egg production based on hours of daylight, basically. If they aren't getting 12+ hours, they reduce egg production substantially.

Sadly, even though I know this, I waited too long to get the light in there and now I'm feeding 20 hens and I'm lucky if I get one egg a day. I expect this is going to change very soon as they've had around 2 weeks to get with the program.    I wish I had a way to figure out which hen is still laying. I'd hatch all her eggs in the spring!

farmchiq wrote:I wish I had a way to figure out which hen is still laying.  

Farmchiq...isn't there this way to look at the vent, and the tissue around the vent to determine this? I think i read it in some chicken magazine(yes i read them)...about fingers, and their placement between the ????? I will try to find that..but i think there must be those here who know this.

That would require me to get WAY too up-close and personal with my birds. I only ever handle them to worm them. It would be very stressful (for both of us!) if I started probing them for vent condition. lol But thanks for that, I know you're right. But ya, no. I'll just live in ignorance of who is the steady layer, thanks.

You should be able to hear when an egg is being layed. Pop into the hen house and see which hen it is. Mark her with some paint or food dye. Than watch her for a couple day just to make sure?

farmchiq wrote:That would require me to get WAY too up-close and personal with my birds.  I only ever handle them to worm them.  It would be very stressful (for both of us!) if I started probing them for vent condition.  lol  But thanks for that, I know you're right.  But ya, no.  I'll just live in ignorance of who is the steady layer, thanks.  

Sue, you don't really have to handle them. I just take a flashlight in at night and tip them up a bit and have a look. The vent of a laying hen looks very different to one that is not laying.

This year I haven't got around to putting light in the coops. They have big south facing windows which does help. Egg production really slowed in October-November but now is bouncing back, so I don't think I'll bother with lights at all this year. The bantams do have a heat lamp because they seem to feel the cold.