Hontech-wins will tell you how many hours for lighting to the chicken?
Chickens are called long-season breeders, meaning that they come into production as days become longer.
That´s
means they start producing eggs when there are more hours of light per
day. Typically, day-old chicks are kept on 23 to 24 hours of light per
day for the first few days to make sure that they are able to find food
and water, especially water. After that time period, you should reduce
the number of hours of light per day. If you are raising the birds
indoors, you can give them just 8 hours of light per day.
If you are
exposing them to outdoor conditions, you are limited by the number of
hours of light per day in your area, of course. When the pullets are
ready to start laying, slowly increase the light exposure until they are
exposed to about 14 hours of light per day.
This exposure should
stimulate the flock to come into lay. To keep the flock in lay
year-round, you will need to maintain a schedule of at least 14 hours of
light per day. You can increase the amount of light slowly to 16 hours
per day late in the egg production cycle to help keep the flock in
production. For most flock owners, this strategy involves providing
supplemental lighting.
Using a hontech-wins LED poultry light
with a stop/start timer, you can cause the light to come on early in the
morning before sunrise and in the evening before sunset to ensure that
the length of light exposure for the flock totals 14 to 16 hours. Also,
you can get a light sensor so that the light bulb does not come on when
natural daylight is available. By using such a device, you minimize your
electricity use. The supplemental light you provide does not have to be
overly bright. A typical 60-watt incandescent light bulb works fine for
a small laying flock. For a discussion of other light choices, watch
the recording of the webinar Lighting for Small and Backyard Flocks by
Dr. Michael Darre from the University of Connecticut.