Keeping coop light on at night instead of morning?

[andree]

Hello all,

I am new here and new to raising chickens also. We have four hens, raised from chicks, who are now about 7 months old. We made the decision to put light in the coop & run so that we could get eggs year round, and hens are doing very well, and are still laying an egg per day each.

However, my husband would like me to extend the light hours more in the evening instead of in the morning, because he fears complaints from the neighbours from the post-laying song that the hens are making in the wee hours of the morning. Right now, the sun is setting around 7:30 pm and rising around 8:15 a.m and so the light in the coop goes on before 5 am and they are often singing their egg-laying songs by 6 a.m., which my husband fears will bring the police to our door.

So my question to you all is about putting on the light at night vs in the morning. Does it make a difference to egg production or not? Our chilckens free range and naturally come back to the coop when the sun goes down, and they are all up on their roosts when the light is on in the coop (we have a small coop with little light and I got into the habit months ago of providing about 15 minutes of light so they could find their way up upon their roosts, and I kept that going, so they do get some light for a short while after sunset.)

The idea would be to prolong the light at night by a couple of hours, then turn it on later in the morning so that they can sing their hearts out at a time in the a.m. that doesn't irritate the neighbours.

I'll add that I live in France, and we turn the clocks back tonight. Complaints where I live will lead to having to get rid of the hens ;-(

THanks in advance,
Andrée

 

[SueT]

Hi, welcome to BYC! I don't use a light. I let mine slow down over winter, but maybe others will join the conversation who do extend the daylight. If doing so may lead to complaints by neighbors, I'd let the hens take a break.
What kind of hens are they?

 

[Birdinhand]

i've found adding a window helped with egg laying production greatly. I too am sensitive about the noise they make for fear of upsetting the neighbors, I even got rid of one of my hens because she was practically as noisy as some roosters. I doubt it matters which end of the day you extend with artificial light, should work either way. best thing to do is try and experiment.

 

[Ridgerunner]

As far as egg laying, no it doesn’t matter. Some people are concerned that the chickens won’t make it to the roosts if the lights suddenly go out and it’s really dark. Others that do provide light at night and suddenly turn then off say it doesn’t matter, their chickens make it to the roosts anyway.

There are times I turn the lights on at night to do something and some chickens come off the roosts to eat a bite. When I suddenly turn off the lights they manage. I don’t hang around to see what they do but I occasionally hear some flying back up. It sound like they make it. My coop if pretty dark at night, no street lights shining in there.

I’ve yet to have anyone give a reason I accept that it’s bad for them to sleep anywhere other than on the roosts anyway. You certainly don’t want them to sleep in the nests but as long as they don’t sleep there I don’t see where it matters where they sleep as long as it is in the coop and safe from predators.

Welcome to the forum, glad you joined!

 

[andree]

Thank you for your replies everyone, I really appreciate them.

I'm going to start tonight by extending the time at night and see how things go. I thought of adding a window too, but it's not obvious where to put it, mostly because the side that makes most sense faces a neighbour's property and I'd rather not expose the coop on that side. If things don't improve, I may just have to give the hens a break over the winter. But we are so enjoying the eggs - best I've ever had in my life!

As for the variety, I have two Sussex hens, and two whose types I don't know in English: one is an "arco" (the black one) and the grey one is a "cendrée" (cendres is French for ashes).

Thanks again for your advice.

 

[RonP]

This topic comes up often, my reply to a previous query, hope it helps:

There are a lot of opinions on supplementing light to keep the chickens laying during time periods where there is less than 12-14 hours of available daylight.

My coop gets 16 hours of light 365 days per year. Birds continue to molt regardless, as they do if living on or close to the equator, where the light hours are consistent all year.

Having had to install electricity for the thermostatically controlled water heater, I took advantage and installed a lighting system.

My system has two timers. The first is set to turn the lights on at 5am, off at 9pm.

Power goes on, passes through a photocell, then to a 300 lumen LED bulb, 4.8 watts, in the coop, and two 4.8 watt LEDs for the outside run.
All bulbs are warm white - 3000K

I light the run because I found the birds huddled outside the coop door in the dark one 5:30am morning... They have access to the run 24/7, as it is as secure as the coop.

The lights are on only when it is dark enough outside to be necessary (photocell).
The time on very closely mimics my Summer Solstice.

The second timer is set to go on at 8:30pm, off at 9:30pm, a diffused 200 lumen LED 4 watt bulb. This dim light allows the birds to settle in before all lights out. No stress as immediate darkness may induce.

This system costs less than $5 per year to operate. My egg production does not fluctuate due to seasonal lighting deficiencies.

Hope this helps.

 

[SueT]

Thank you for your replies everyone, I really appreciate them.

I'm going to start tonight by extending the time at night and see how things go. I thought of adding a window too, but it's not obvious where to put it, mostly because the side that makes most sense faces a neighbour's property and I'd rather not expose the coop on that side. If things don't improve, I may just have to give the hens a break over the winter. But we are so enjoying the eggs - best I've ever had in my life!

As for the variety, I have two Sussex hens, and two whose types I don't know in English: one is an "arco" (the black one) and the grey one is a "cendrée" (cendres is French for ashes).

Thanks again for your advice. View attachment 1165949 View attachment 1165950

They are very pretty! Let us know how it goes!

 

[GC-Raptor]

I turn on a light at 5 in the morning, year round. I don't add light in the evening. I do have a night light in the coop so they can see to hop up on the roost after sunset. I turn off the night light when I lockup the coop, to prevent bullying.
So if you add light in the evening, put in a night light, so any hens not on the roost can find their way up when the lights go out. GC

 

[aart]

I think @lazy gardener adds light at night instead of morning to avoid early morning/middle of the night crowing/egg songing.

 

[lazy gardener]

I think @lazy gardener adds light at night instead of morning to avoid early morning/middle of the night crowing/egg songing.

Thank you Aart! Yes, I do add my light in a split session. If I added it in the morning, it would come on at 2:30 AM. No thanks. My winter lighting starts late fall, after giving the girls a natural break for molting (but if you've already started your light, just continue it!) I add an hour/week until my final schedule looks like this: On 6:30 AM - 10:00 AM, and again 3:00 PM - 8:30 PM. I chose 6:30 b/c that's about the time my hubby is up and ready to head out for the day. You could choose an on time that works for you. I did give my girls a bit of a night light so perching wouldn't be an issue. I use a solar landscaping light that is charged by the 9W warm spectrum LED. Even without the night light, the birds have never had an issue with being stranded off the perch at "lights out".

Poultry husbandry includes doing the homework and choosing your management style. If I listened to all the advice from well meaning folks here, (or even elsewhere in life) I'd be a basket case! So, if you want to provide light, and it makes sense to you to do so, that's what you should do. Plenty of folks would never consider putting their flock on supplemental light. So, for them, they should not provide supplemental light!