Next chicken question - winter lighting?

[DrDan]

To keep them laying I want to install a poultry timer and a small light in the coop. How long do you set it to be lit up? I imagine you want to simulate summer daylight, but am not sure.

Thanks to all the chicken experts.

Dr Dan

 

[Boondox]

Dan -- I actually got a timer, etc for my coop but never installed it because egg production never dropped off that much. With 21 pullets in summer (before the fox came) I got 18 - 21 eggs a day in the first year. In winter with no supplemental lighting I still got 17 - 19 eggs a day. Maybe that's because we stick with the heavy breeds that winter well: RIRs, Brahmas, etc. The smaller birds seem to have a tough time in arctic conditions.

Pete in northern Vermont

www.GatewayToVermont.com

 

[jimmoore]

Dr Dan, I use a 60 watt bulb for light in my henhouse. To lay best the hens need about 12 hours of light. also attaching a pic of my modified chicken tractor. No wheels, it has handles and we just pick it up and move it once in a while. The larger coop is 12' long with 4' covered and 8' of open run space. it was made by ripping pressure treated 2x4s into 2x2s. I also nailed 2x4 dog wire across the bottom so the critters could not dig under. They have tried but the dog wire kept them from coming up inside. This size coop will accomadate 6 to 8 hens. I drilled holes in the covered side and installed wooden dowels for roosts. You can see them sticking out the sides.

jim

 

[jimmoore]

Tis is a pic from the ends the shorter coop is 8' with 2' covered and 6' open run space.

jim

 

[jimmoore]

I have 11 buff hens and a rooster on the west side of the hen house

jim

 

[jimmoore]

I have 9 barred rock hens and a couple of rooster on the east side. They will be laying by fall. The henhouse has a partition in the middle. I have a small incubator and I hatch quite a few chicks.

jim

 

[DrDan]

Thanks for sharing pictures of your operation. Looks great! I kinda like chickens so it's probably just a matter of time before I have several more (if ya know what I mean).

Dr Dan

 

[Boondox]

Jim -- I really like the design of your chicken tractors and will probably copy it next year. The big rectangles we've been using weigh so much the portability suffers.

I'm curious, though. What do you do with the manure from your permanent pens? Looks like quite a few birds in a relatively small space; they probably give you a heck of a start on composting!

Pete

www.GatewayToVermont.com

 

[jimmoore]

Since I have quit having a garden, Ijust clean out the henhouse and throw the manure in the woods. when I had a garden I would cleant it out an the manure and throw in on the garden during the winter season so it would have time to cure out some before planting time in the spring. fresh manure has so much acid it would burn the plants

jim

 

[patrickg]

Wonder what the greatest distance back from a barier/fence a varmit would dig to tunnel into the chicken enclosure? I thought I might install fence in an L shape with the short horizontal part of the L toward the outside of the enclosure, maybe buried just a bit and maybe not entirely horizontal but with th eouter edge the deepest. Sure would be a lot less wire for a large enclosure but a lot of wasted resources if the varmits tunnel under it anyway.

Ideas?

Patrick