LIGHTING FOR SMALL AND BACKYARD POULTRY FLOCKS

An essential but sometimes disregarded component of an animal's habitat is light. In addition to enabling animals to view their surroundings, light has an impact on development, reproduction, and behavior.

KNOWING HOW LIGHT IMPACTS BIRDS
It's essential to comprehend how birds see and react to light in order to design an efficient lighting strategy for your poultry house.

The electromagnetic spectrum, which consists of electromagnetic radiation with different wavelengths, includes light as one of its components. Radio waves, microwaves, infrared light, visible light, ultraviolet light, x-rays, and gamma rays are all a part of the electromagnetic spectrum. electromagnetic radiation with visible wavelengths is known as visible light. Each color that we see in visible light is based on its wavelength.

The way an animal reacts to light depends on three things. Wavelength, intensity, and duration make up these elements. As previously stated, light's color is determined by its wavelength. Violet, blue, green, yellow, orange, and red are the visible light hues in sequence from the smallest wavelength to the longest wavelength. The brightness of the light is its intensity. The duration of an animal's daily exposure to light is measured in hours. Outside of the visible light spectrum for humans, birds are sensitive to certain wavelengths. Chickens are able to sense light at wavelengths that humans would not be able to, yet we can mistakenly believe that two separate light sources are the same. The hens may behave differently under the two light sources as a consequence.

Retinal receptors in the eyes and photosensitive brain cells are the two main ways that birds perceive light (extraretinal receptors). Light must penetrate the bird's skin and skull in order to reach the extraretinal receptors. The skin and skull are more effectively penetrated by long wavelengths (toward the red end of the spectrum) than by short wavelengths. Birds are affected differently by various wavelengths. The retinal receptors' detection of short wavelengths has an impact on development and behavior. Contrarily, extended wavelengths and extraretinal receptors are related to reproduction. Red light is said to be able to prevent feather plucking and cannibalism, whereas blue light is said to soothe birds. Orange-red light is known to boost reproduction, whereas blue-green light has been found to stimulate growth.

ASSESSMENT OF LIGHT SOURCES
You should think about lamp kind, lamp quantity, and lamp location when creating a lighting design for your poultry coop.

The incandescent bulb is the most typical kind of light used in poultry barns. A tiny tungsten filament inside an incandescent bulb glows and heats up when an electrical current is sent through it. The light generated includes every color of visible light. The incandescent bulb is very energy inefficient because a large portion of the energy generated by the electrical current is converted to heat energy.

Alternative lighting options are being used in poultry houses as a result of rising energy prices. The fluorescent bulb is the most popular of these choices. Light is produced by fluorescent lamps by running an electrical current through a low-pressure gas or vapor within the bulb. An internal phosphor coating on the lamp absorbs the UV light that is emitted. When this happens, the phosphor material fluoresces, or emits electromagnetic radiation with visible light-like wavelengths. The kind of coating employed affects the wavelengths that are emitted. Although they are more expensive than incandescent bulbs, fluorescent lights have a longer lifespan and use less energy. The following crucial considerations should be kept in mind if you're thinking about adopting fluorescent bulbs:

1.If cannibalism becomes a problem, the lighting in the poultry house cannot be decreased since many fluorescent bulbs are not dimmable.
2.In very low temperatures, fluorescent bulbs perform poorly and can even fail to operate.
3.It matters what kind of fluorescent bulb you use. To sustain productivity, hens need warm-white fluorescent lighting with the right spectral output (more orange and red). Cool-white bulbs, which are focused in the blue-green wavelengths, are beneficial to chicks.

Recently, a number of new Light Emitting Dioxide (LED) lamps have become accessible. When LED lights initially appeared, they were pricey and in some instances did not operate well or hold up in the harsh environments found in poultry barns. Some of these initial issues have been resolved in modern versions of commercial grade LEDs. Dimmable LED lights provide excellent illumination uniformity.

SMALL INTENSE
Lumens are units used to measure all types of light production. In the US, footcandles are used to quantify lumens, or lumens per square foot, at bird level. In nations that utilize metric units of measurement, lux (lumens per square meter) is used in place of footcandles. About 10.76 lux is equivalent to one footcandle.

To provide an uniform light intensity throughout your poultry house, you need pick the right number and location of lights. It's vital to keep in mind that fluorescent bulbs might lose up to 20% of their initial light output over the course of their lifespan when adjusting the light intensity. When deciding where to position lights if you're utilizing fluorescent bulbs, take this aspect into account. Additionally, unclean lights provide less light, therefore you should regularly clean all lamps.

Strong light intensity is often not necessary and may even cause avian stress, which increases the likelihood of feather plucking and cannibalism. In general, 2 footcandles are needed for brooding and half a footcandle after that.

A LIGHTING PROGRAM DESIGN
The amount and distribution of daylight hours are referred to as lighting programs. This is crucial for laying hens since they are affected by the quantity of daylight hours each day. The lengthening of the days, which happens seasonally in the spring, encourages hens to reach sexual maturity and causes pullets to lay eggs and cockerels to lay sperm. Reduced day duration, which happens seasonally in the autumn, reduces the generation of eggs and sperm. You may maintain laying hens in production all winter long by adjusting the quantity of daylight hours each day and adding artificial light.

The primary objectives of meat bird lighting systems are to increase and regulate feed consumption.

Benwei chicken coop lighting for egg production