How many hours of light should chicks in a brooder have?

[temple1612]

I have a heating plate in my brooder instead of a heat lamp. I am curious as to how many hours of light the chicks should be having. If I turn the lights out when the sun goes down (around 5pm) they seem to get hungry in the middle of the night. I also read that chicks should never be in the dark or it could effect their growth and cause cannibalism. Is that true?

 

[ChickNanny13]

Have you checked out the thread by Blooie on MHP? Heating pad is what I converted to & love it. Where are you brooding? I start mine off in the house for a week, then they move out into the patio brooder with their MHP. They get natural daylight/sun down & do fine, never had a problem. Look up the thread, it's very informative ...

 

[temple1612]

Have you checked out the thread by Blooie on MHP? Heating pad is what I converted to & love it. Where are you brooding? I start mine off in the house for a week, then they move out into the patio brooder with their MHP. They get natural daylight/sun down & do fine, never had a problem. Look up the thread, it's very informative ...

Thanks. I will check it out. Mine are in my office which has a large window. However, it get dark at 5pm and doesn't really get light until close to 7am. That meas they would be in the dark more than they are in light.

 

[TomZilla43]

I have a heating plate in my brooder instead of a heat lamp. I am curious as to how many hours of light the chicks should be having. If I turn the lights out when the sun goes down (around 5pm) they seem to get hungry in the middle of the night. I also read that chicks should never be in the dark or it could effect their growth and cause cannibalism. Is that true?

I myself am no authority on this subject but there's a lady who posts here, @Blooie who seems quite knowledgeable on it. I've really enjoyed reading her articles and plan to brood some chicks this winter/spring using the method she recommends. If you search "mama heating pad in the brooder (picture heavy)" it will take you to one of her articles. Which is chocked full of good info on what I think is a great way to brood chicks. Hope this helps.

 

[matt14132]

I am not sure if the whole cannibalism theory is true or not. But, I do not leave my chicks without light for 2 weeks. I am not 100% sure if that is a good thing or not, but they seem to do fine. The chicks are so young at that point that they sleep whenever they feel like it and I find they don't really have a day, night schedule for sleeping like adult birds, or humans for that matter.

Just eating and drinking, walking back and forth to each bowl in the brooder, is enough to tire them out really quick so they take lots of naps. LOTS of naps.

Again, Not sure if all of what I am doing is the "right" way, but Im happy to at least provide what has worked for me for the last few batches of eggs I hatched.

Are you taking away the food at night? You said they seem hungry in the middle of the night.....
I always leave fresh food and water out for them at all times. ESPECIALLY water.
Also, what behavior are they exhibiting that makes you think they are hungry?

 

[temple1612]

I am not sure if the whole cannibalism theory is true or not. But, I do not leave my chicks without light for 2 weeks. I am not 100% sure if that is a good thing or not, but they seem to do fine. The chicks are so young at that point that they sleep whenever they feel like it and I find they don't really have a day, night schedule for sleeping like adult birds, or humans for that matter.

Just eating and drinking, walking back and forth to each bowl in the brooder, is enough to tire them out really quick so they take lots of naps. LOTS of naps.

Again, Not sure if all of what I am doing is the "right" way, but Im happy to at least provide what has worked for me for the last few batches of eggs I hatched.

Are you taking away the food at night? You said they seem hungry in the middle of the night.....
I always leave fresh food and water out for them at all times. ESPECIALLY water.
Also, what behavior are they exhibiting that makes you think they are hungry?

I always leave the food and water in the brooder. They seem hungry because a couple hours after the light is off they start chirping like they are.

 

[debid]

I used the MHP outdoors, no supplemental light, just the sun. This was spring so the days were a bit longer. Worked great, though. They grew just as quickly as the previous chicks raised with a lamp. They'd stuff their crops as the sun started down just like the adults. What I'm wondering is if you're affecting that instinct by using artificial light? They need to know bedtime is coming in order to prepare.

So, if you want to extend their day, it's best to add the time in the morning. Put a regular lamp in the room on a timer and let the room darken naturally in the evening.

 

[losttexan]

I agree. I have found that the sooner I get the chicks onto a natural rhythm (either via window or timer to approximate sunrise/sunset), the better-adjusted and happier they are. They are diurnal animals.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I leave a light on 24/7 for the first 4 days. This is especially true for shipped chicks. If my chicks go straight from the incubator to the brooder, I go with fewer days of light. Then I give them a 5 hour dark period for a few days and then 8 hours of darkness for the remainder of their time in the brooder environment.
Chicks a couple days old will sleep when they're tired and eat when they're awake so I want them to be able to eat and drink as frequently as possible. Thereafter, they will benefit from a dark period. But in winter, I don't go with ambient light because, in nature, they won't be dealing with such long nights since they normally will hatch in spring or summer. Where I am, there are 14.5 hours of darkness. That is too long for young chicks to go without eating or drinking.

 

[Blooie]

Chicks need darkness. They need to sleep at night when the sun goes down and wake up fresh and ready to go the next sunrise. A mother hen doesn't have a night light under her wings, right? And she doesn't let them get up to get a midnight snack. If you're chicks are using a heat plate and waking up in the middle of the night, I think the first thing to do would be to see if there's another reason why....is the heat plate too warm or set to low to the floor and they are overheating after a few hours under it? Is there a light that suddenly comes in the window at a set time each night, waking them? (My goofs woke up when I forgot to shut the blinds one night and the full moon streamed in on them.) And if it really is that they are just plain hungry because the days are so doggone short right now, change things up and provide some light. You are there, I am not, so you know your setup, your situation, and your personal comfort zone far better than I do!

If you would feel better adding light, then by all means, do so. Simply leave the light on in your office a few hours longer than turning it off right at sunset. @debid and @ChickenCanoe gave you some very good information about how to to that. But as far as artificial light preventing growth issues, um, no, I personally don't think so. The reason chicks raised under a lamp seem to grow so fast is because they are eating 24/7. Chicks raised more naturally grow at the same rate they would under their natural mom, so while heat-lamp raised chicks are stuffing themselves, broody raised chicks are asleep. Cannibalism has many causes, one of which I strongly believe is constant light stimulation with nothing to do but run around a box all day and all night long. They are awake, but there is nothing to do but eat, drink, and catnap. If a chick plops on the floor in exhaustion but the others are still awake, (and it seems like somebody is ALWAYS still awake) the others will often come over and start pecking at the little Sleeping Beauty. Chicks and chickens form habits very quickly. Pecking can draw blood, and then the chicks are attracted to that spot over and over again. Am I right? I dunno, I could be off base here....there isn't any scientific evidenced to back me up, and right now days are still shorter than they will be when most people start chicks. But nor is there scientific evidence to dispute it. All we can go by is our own experiences and observations, and those vary!

Probably more information than you really wanted, but I feel so strongly about this because I've seen the difference in my own chicks....the heat lamp ones vs the many batches I raised trying to duplicate Mama Broody Hen as closely as possible. And that duplication includes day/night cycles. However, as has been said, generally speaking the days aren't quite as short during "chick season" as they are right now, so you need to absolutely make a judgement call and do what you believe is the most beneficial to your chicks and your peace of mind. After all, if there was just one "right" way to raise a flock this web site wouldn't even need to exist, right?