Meyer Moment: Will You Leave The Lights On?

Hey everyone! Welcome back to The Coop with Meyer Hatchery - where we talk all things poultry in hopes of inspiring crazy chicken keepers and educating future flock owners. We’re glad to have you tuning in for this brief midweek as we provide a Meyer Moment to cover relevant happenings. 

Let’s take a Meyer Moment to talk about leaving the lights on. As daylight slowly fades away this time of year, do you leave the lights on in your coop? The question often begins with electricity in the coop building stage. Often people associate electricity with heat, but a well-insulated coop does not need to be heated. You may, however, want to consider electricity for lights. 

The addition of light will help you count your chickens before bed and collect eggs, but it can also keep your hens producing eggs all winter. Chickens have a natural laying cycle influenced by daylight. The magic number is 14-16 hours of light per day. While dependent on where you live, here in the northern United States, you’ll typically see your chicken’s production start to slow in September, and eventually stop all together, until the Spring season returns. 

A simple light bulb added to your coop, can help provide the additional hours of light needed for continuous laying. A regular ol’ 40 watt light bulb will suffice but you’ll want to be sure to keep it up high and away from roosting bars.

This will help avoid the light being bumped and increasing the risk of a fire hazard. For smaller coops or those without electricity, you may want to consider a battery-operated or solar-powered light. 

Many poultry experts suggest increasing the amount of light 30-60 minutes each week in the morning hours, as you gradually work towards 14-16 hours of light provided each day. A timer works great in helping you to stay consistent with your lighting efforts. 

While a simple addition, supplemental lighting is a hot topic amongst poultry advocates, as it prevents them from following their natural reproductive rhythm. And remember, a chicken is born with all the eggs they’ll produce which in turn can force them to stop producing earlier in their life span. 

So the question remains, will you leave the lights on? We hope you enjoyed this Meyer Moment about lighting and the effects on egg production. 

Enjoy the rest of your week and as always, thank you for listening to The Coop!