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?
