Posted by LeAnn Holcomb on December 31, 2009 at 1:44am
After reading the discussion of using red for heat lamps, I got to wondering about the lighting I want to add for the egg layers. They need 14-15 hrs a day to keep laying in winter. I was thinking of putting in a 4 ft florescent fixture with soft or a warm white bulb, on a timer to go from 5-7 twice a day, until the sun catches up to that schedule again. The light does make a difference: this month, which ever mini-flock is not out on the grass also does not lay that day. But will I get calcium issues if I add the white light? Could I balance the issue just by adding more calcium to their feed?I don't try to put both flocks out together because the big ones bully the littler french hens. I work long hours so I release one flock in the am, they put themselves to bed, I come after dark and close up their door and then release the other flock the next day. Easy-peasy, but my egg production is down.
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Wow , after reading these posts I am feeling lucky ! We have not had any lull in egg producing , it has been steady since they started laying in summer. Are hens get the yard during the day and go to the coop on their own they have veggie and grain scraps as well as a couple of scoops of laying scratch twice a day. I only had to buy eggs once during the holidays since I was doing lots o baking.
There's a BIG difference between adding light to a hen house that's totally enclosed (commercial barn) vs adding light to chickens that can actually see it being dark. I've been through the same things with our horses as most breeders put their mares under lights in November to make them think it's summer and I can personally tell you... as long as they're not locked up, it just plain doesn't work. Might as well let them rest and give them good lay pellet and enjoy the eggs you do get when they're being "Real" chickens :)
I will second (or third) the recommendation to not artificially light your birds. If you're running a production house where the output is more important than the health of the birds that's one thing, but in backyard flocks in a permaculture sort of setting it really isn't good for the birds IMHO. I've always been lucky enough to have birds molt and rest in a staggered pattern so there are always eggs from a couple birds at any given time. Is there a specific reason you are wanting to increase production other than home use?
I just hate having to buy eggs during the slow down, but for now I have decided against the extra light. I don't need the eggs as much as the hens need the rest. I could use a little rest myself: I have been busy helping with the new coop project, and working on lesson planning for January. I had hoped the insomnia would straighten out a bit over these two weeks, but as you can tell from the time of my postings, I am still staying up too long, and waking up too often, and too early, etc. I am working on this with my family doc, but if I don't get this fixed in the next few weeks, I may have to resort to prescription sleep aides to reset my clock. I had to do that once before many years ago, back after law school had thoroughly goofed me up. Three weeks of meds did the job back then, but I felt like a wuss for needing the help. Various natural n Herbal stuff, melatonin, and a long list of tricks to try, all haven't done it yet though. And when I had my sleep test, I was breathing fine, but I don' fall down into REM. Phoeey. Good hours for sleeping are important, be you a chicken or a people.
I hear you on that. No one with chickens ever wants to have to buy eggs! One thing you can do is freeze the eggs when you have surplus. Crack a bunch into a bowl, stir to break up the yolks, and pour into ice cube trays. :)
Good advice on working to preserve them when you have a surplus. Another great way to preserve eggs is to make egg noodles! Yummy!
We do not use artificial lighting for our layers..it just doesn't sit well with me. If you aren't getting enough eggs in the winter, I say just add to your flock! When production picks back up you can preserve the extra eggs (many ways to do this), give them to a family you know that may be having a hard time, or sell them.
I've been grinding up egg shells in a coffee grinder and adding it to their feed when their eggs get thinner. During November and December, each Leghorn has missed laying one day each month, and the Barred Rock has missed two days each month. I'm satisfied, especially since they have no added light, mostly are in a shady area and roost a little earlier as a result.
My question is: I have left over grower feed (about 10 pounds) and wonder if it is ill-advised to grind the egg shells daily and add to the grower feed, and if that would be equivalent to layer feed, just until I finish that bag of chick feed?
Our queen hen is pretty consistent and lays every other day. Out littlest one has stopped laying for about a month now and is molting. While man kind can force nature to do many things, it is the natural cycle of the chicken, and those ladies deserve a rest now and again IMHO. It is so much easier to work with nature rather than against it, and adding lights not only disrupts the natural cycle, it also increases the use of fossil fuels.
We just scatter oyster shells on the coop floor and the ladies eat at free will with natural pecking. We also wash and dry out the egg shells and crunch them up and add to their coop floor as well. Now that is a full natural cycle!
Egg laying takes tremendous energy. Forcing them to lay all year stresses their bodies. If you let the birds have their natural resting/molting periods, they will lay for many more months overall and have less health issues. You can only get so many eggs out of a hen in its lifetime. Let the eggs come naturally at their own pace.
We have ten hens and never add light. While they have slowed down substantially with the shorter days, we're still getting a couple eggs a day here and there when we didn't expect any! A couple of the hens actually started laying again recently after months of rest.
Laying hens should always be offered supplemental calcium, free-choice. They will eat it if they need it and leave it if they don't. If they're enjoying free-ranging or getting healthy kitchen scraps, they will eat less lay pellets, hence the need for extra calcium. We leave a free-choice oyster shell feeder in the coop year round.
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We do not use artificial lighting for our layers..it just doesn't sit well with me. If you aren't getting enough eggs in the winter, I say just add to your flock! When production picks back up you can preserve the extra eggs (many ways to do this), give them to a family you know that may be having a hard time, or sell them.
My question is: I have left over grower feed (about 10 pounds) and wonder if it is ill-advised to grind the egg shells daily and add to the grower feed, and if that would be equivalent to layer feed, just until I finish that bag of chick feed?
We just scatter oyster shells on the coop floor and the ladies eat at free will with natural pecking. We also wash and dry out the egg shells and crunch them up and add to their coop floor as well. Now that is a full natural cycle!
We have ten hens and never add light. While they have slowed down substantially with the shorter days, we're still getting a couple eggs a day here and there when we didn't expect any! A couple of the hens actually started laying again recently after months of rest.
Laying hens should always be offered supplemental calcium, free-choice. They will eat it if they need it and leave it if they don't. If they're enjoying free-ranging or getting healthy kitchen scraps, they will eat less lay pellets, hence the need for extra calcium. We leave a free-choice oyster shell feeder in the coop year round.