What’s the Best Chicken Coop Light?
Does it matter what kind of bulb we use to complement the light provided to our chickens throughout the winter? There are advantages and disadvantages to using incandescent, fluorescent, or LED bulbs in a chicken coop, but do the chickens have a preference? What position should that light be in?
Chickens are extremely light-sensitive. Along with using their eyes to see, they also have a photoreceptor in their hypothalamus gland that allows them to see through the chicken's thinner sections of the skull (Jácome, Rossi, & Borille, 2014). A chicken is instructed to lay eggs by light. When there are 14 hours of daylight each day, hens start producing more of the hormones that promote egg production. As this is typically the best period to lay eggs for hatching chicks, this peaks when there are 16 hours of daylight each day. The chicks can then mature during the summer and become robust before the coming of winter. While most traditional breeds require a few days to absorb enough sunlight to start egg production in the winter's gloom, several modern varieties have been created to continue laying large numbers of eggs throughout the season. Fortunately, we can supply artificial light to the chickens to keep them stimulated and producing well even throughout the winter thanks to the conveniences of electricity.
Species of Light
Large poultry businesses occasionally take part in studies to learn how to increase their egg production while maintaining the health of their chicks. The majority of recent research compare LED illumination to fluorescent lighting. Since incandescent lighting is rarely used in major operations, they don't compare it. For them to care whether there is a tiny variation in egg-laying capacity, incandescent costs too much in contrast. These comparisons compared fluorescent and LED (light-emitting diode) lighting reveal that when contrasting lights with the same color spectrum, there is little to no change in egg yield (Long, Yang, Wang, Xin, & Ning, 2014). In one study, it was discovered that hens were slightly more likely to pick at their feathers whereas in another, it was discovered that chickens were more relaxed. Due to hens' extreme sensitivity to light, it is thought that even the tiny flashing of fluorescent lights may have irritated them, which is the theory behind their greater quiet. Fluorescent lights might not endure a chicken coop's dust as well as LED lights. Despite being more expensive, LEDs have a long lifespan and can greatly reduce your electricity expenditures. Additionally, fluorescent and LED light sources don't generate as much heat as conventional incandescent ones do. In the winter, you might want to give your girls a little additional warmth, but doing so poses a significant fire risk.
Hue of the light
A laying hen's reaction to monochromatic light, or light that only has one color, was compared in some extremely fascinating research using LED lights. The "white" light that we associate with the sun and try to replicate in our light bulbs is actually a combination of all the colors. The researchers carefully measured egg size, shape, nutritional content, and output in various hen houses with LED lights set to green, red, blue, or white. It was discovered that the hens solely exposed to green light developed eggshells that were more robust. Eggs laid by hens under blue light become increasingly rounded. Comparatively, the group exposed to white light produced the biggest eggs, whereas the group exposed to red light produced smaller eggs but with a higher yield. The eggs' nutritional properties did not alter noticeably (Chen, Er, Wang, & Cao, 2007). Other research has demonstrated that hens require "warm" spectrum light that contains at least the same amount of red as the other hues, if not more (Baxter, Joseph, Osborne, & Bédécarrats, 2014). For your gals, no "cool white" lighting!
