Best Light To Keep Chickens Laying

The hybrid lays like clockwork but the bantams having been good layers have now stopped laying completely.

Best light to keep chickens laying.

Light is what signals a chicken to lay eggs. One way to combat this lack of sunlight in the colder months of the year is to add a light on a timer in the coop to trick the chicken s pituitary gland and help ramp up normal egg production again. Chickens need twelve to fourteen hours of daylight to keep production running and the only way to provide this daylight during the winter is to use artificial lighting. Hens for example that are kept under natural daylight hours will lay the majority of their eggs during the spring and summer months.

They are free range most of the time and fed layers pellets. Chickens need 14 16 hours of light per day to continue laying eggs for you. Keep in mind that hens do. Many chicken experts have found that red lights are the best way to light a chicken coop.

The idea is that the subtle light of a red bulb helps to keep your girls calm. Once daylight hours reach 14 hours per day chickens begin to make more hormones that stimulate egg production. This peaks when there are 16 hours of daylight each day as this is usually the ideal time to lay eggs for hatching chicks. How many hours of light do chickens need to lay eggs.

As you could imagine chickens probably won t want a bright white light shining on them especially if you are leaving it on all day night. Any ideas or is. Red light is more soothing for a chicken and helps allow them to sleep. Hens need at least 12 hours of daylight per day to lay eggs whereas 14 to 16 hours of sunlight per day will keep them performing at their full potential.

Most pure breeds will stop laying during the winter months but good utility strains and hybrids may continue to lay at a lower rate. A rtificial lighting can keep your chickens laying as daylight hours fall and as most of us know egg production from all birds is linked to changing patterns of daylight. Artificial light a 40 watt bulb suspended about 7 feet off the floor will provide enough light intensity to substitute for daylight in a small chicken coop of roughly 100 square feet 10 feet by 10 feet or so.