Providing Supplemental Chicken Coop Lighting

Do you notice fluctuations in egg production? When you take these things into account, it is safe to add extra illumination to chicken coops.

You are likely familiar with the ups and downs of egg production if you maintain hens. The best times are in the spring and summer. Every hen is laying like a pro at this period, which is the climax. However, when autumn approaches and the number of daylight hours decreases, egg production falls. Many chicken caretakers are left desiring an egg basket full as a result of this. I'm here to let you know that there is something you can do to contribute to raising those figures. You may add extra lights to the coop for the chickens.

In fact, I can feel some of you cringing at the very notion of it. Stories about how awful it was to supply lights during the winter have been handed down from one generation to the next. The birds will experience too much stress, you'll limit their lifetime if you do it, and my personal favorite, "They'll run out of eggs to lay," were among the remarks. I started to question whether this was just a rural myth because of these particular tales. I made the decision that I needed to investigate this on my own.

Factors that Reduce Egg Production
1) Molt – this happens naturally. In this period, hens will shed their feathers (which are primarily protein). Instead of concentrating resources on egg production, new feathers are prioritized.

2) Changes in temperature - Egg production might decline dramatically during cold spells like Arctic cold fronts passing through your area (and not simply a few degrees lower than usual).

3) Short days (reduced daylight) - The egg-laying cycle slows down during short days (winter, when daylight may be as little as 9 hours per day), but it resumes as the number of daylight hours rises, with 14 to 16 hours per day being ideal.

The flock normally starts their molt around the middle of September where we live. (The main indicator is the feather layer covering the coop and chicken run floors.) The typical chicken molt lasts between two and three months. But by the time their molt is over, winter's short days have arrived, and egg production remains low. As a result, we average anything between 0 and 2 eggs per day for a flock of 15.

I chose to conduct an experiment throughout the last winter. I gave my hens more coop lights soon after their molt. The whole flock had grown new feathers again, and they all seemed to be in good condition. This period was around seven weeks before we would typically start to detect an increase in egg production.

Supplemental Coop Lighting Considerations
My husband and I assessed various factors to begin the process of adding more coop lighting. This would enable us to develop a lighting strategy that suited our needs the best.

1.How much room is available in the ceiling of the coop, and how might cables be run?
2.Which way does the chicken run face when you look at it? Could we use the natural lighting?
3.Could we tie many extension cables together to run a longer distance from the house? What problems might there be if we ran that length of cording?
4.Cost: We did not wire the coop we erected for electricity. The cost of digging a trench and bringing electricity service to the coop? Would that even be reasonable for temporary additional lighting?
We concluded that installing a solar-powered system would be the best choice after discussing our findings over beers after a hard day of labor. Our reasoning? For coop design, modest LEDs might be readily put on the roof, far from the hens' reach. The chicken run's position provided excellent western and southern exposure, which was ideal for solar panel installation. The coop is fairly distant from the closest outlet on the house, and we weren't willing to run enough extension cables to get there. It was too expensive for us to run power to the coop. We sought a more affordable answer.

The recycled chicken house is an excellent place to start if you're looking for further ideas for low-cost poultry solutions).

Solar Supplemental Coop Lighting Setup

Items needed:

*small 5 watt solar panels

*that would easily fit on the chicken run12V battery

* to hold the solar charge

*LED lights

*electrical cording

*zip ties

*cable clips(that can be nailed to a surface)

*timer

After gathering all the necessary supplies, which we had on hand from previous projects, installing solar lights was not too difficult. The setup was finished in less than an hour. However, it did take roughly five days of adjusting the timing and installing an extra solar panel to make sure that the chickens would have 14 hours of light total between daylight and supplementary illumination.

It wasn't too difficult to install solar lights after we had gathered all the required materials, which we already had on hand from earlier projects. The setup took less than an hour to complete. To ensure that the hens would receive a total of 14 hours of light between daylight and additional lights, it did require around five days of scheduling adjustments and an additional solar panel installation.

No Symptoms of Stress or Fatigue
The additional coop lighting has been effective. With daily egg counts ranging from 6 to 11, egg production improved. We have no extra out-of-pocket costs outside the cable clips, and the hens are in good condition (they show no signs of exhaustion or stress).

It is important to note that additional coop illumination did not start until AFTER the hens had finished their molt. We did this on purpose to give them time to heal completely after their molting phase. We then created lights keeping that in mind. Egg production grew to the level observed in the spring and summer, which is usual for them.

NOTE: Your hens won't become amazing egg-laying machines if you do this. With more illumination, we will see the average summer egg production of hens, which is 4 eggs per week. She won't suddenly start producing seven eggs a week simply because there is more illumination in the winter.

Midway through March, we will cease using extra lights. The flock will get sufficient amounts of natural daylight at that time, and egg production will be almost at summertime levels.

So, if you maintain chickens, are you willing to experiment with additional coop lighting for your flock? Proper Light Management for Your Home Laying Flock, a publication from the University of Nebraska, has further details.

Benwei chicken coop lighting for egg production