As we lose daylight

[jackb]

Already I notice the days are getting shorter and shorter, so I am adding supplemental lighting in the morning and evening to keep my tropical plants actively growing. To keep the cost under control I am using LED grow lights, with the spectrum tuned to exactly the wavelengths the plants most require for growth: red, orange and blue. The lights cover a good portion of the bench, and, the total power consumption is a meager 66 watts, not each, total. The cost of these lights was little more than fifty dollars, and the life expectancy is ten years if used all day.

Jack B

 

[dewdropsinwv]

Your not the only one noticing the days getting shorter! It makes me sad that the chickens are going in the coop by 8:45pm.

 

[jackb]

Do you get up in the morning when the chickens get up? Not me, I can't function until about eleven. I rely on timers to get up early to turn the lights on.

Jack B

 

[dewdropsinwv]

No I don't get up, my hubby Monty is always up by 5 or 6 so he lets them out for me. I can not function too well before 8am. I take their water out around 8:30 or 9 in the morning, start collecting the eggs. But I do spend a lot of time with them.
How do they do laying during the winter time with shorter days? I don't have lights out there yet, should I get some set up for better egg production? This is my first winter having chickens

 

[so lucky]

Most chickens will slow down sharply or stop laying during the winter. Mine did last year. They molted in that time, too, so that prolonged the non-production. This winter I think I will put lights in their coop, to come on early in the morning; maybe 6:00am. If I do this, I will need to figure out something to keep their water thawed, too, since I assume they will be up stirring around eating and wanting to drink. I have a hanging feeder and hanging jug with nipple waterers in the coop, but no heat, so the waterer freezes in really cold weather. I don't have electricity run to the coop. In really hot weather, I have extension cords to power a fan, so I guess that will have to work for winter, too. So yeah, Dew, to respond to your comment: The chickens do slack off their laying in the dark days of winter.

 

[digitS']

I sure have noticed, Jack!

It is a little surprising that the sunrise/sunset tables for both here and upstate NY are nearly the same: about an hour loss since the solstice!

I left the house at 4:30 the other morning remembering the days/years in June & July when I would meet that little red pickup traveling in the opposite direction on the Hayden Lake road. He wouldn't have his headlights on at 4:15am! If he is still out there at that hour, I bet he's got his headlights on now .

Steve
who has kept a light on in the coop set for the year's longest day for the last several years

 

[canesisters]

No I don't get up, my hubby Monty is always up by 5 or 6 so he lets them out for me. I can not function too well before 8am. I take their water out around 8:30 or 9 in the morning, start collecting the eggs. But I do spend a lot of time with them.
How do they do laying during the winter time with shorter days? I don't have lights out there yet, should I get some set up for better egg production? This is my first winter having chickens

You might want to consider an auto door, couldn't live without mine now.
I don't REALLY function with any accuracy till about 9am (don't tell my boss!) but since I have to be out of the house by 5:30, I can't have any 'extra' chores in the mornings. Just getting dressed is enough some days Mine's a Pullet-shut with the solar battery and the photo eye. It sences dawn and dusk and opens and closes on it's own. So far (about a year now) it hasn't left anyone out, hasn't trapped anyone in, and has given me a since of security that they are safely locked inside even if I'm not home.

Last winter - my girls' first - they didn't slack up noticably with their laying. I've gotten 3-5 eggs a day for about a year now. With 3 more girls this year, I'm expecting that to stay strong over the winter - bu twe'll see what they think of that plan.....

 

[ninnymary]

Cane, be careful with that auto door. I LOVED mine for 1 1/2 yrs. until it malfunction and the door didn't close. A racoon got my favorite, a speckle susses that was at point of lay. I'd been wanting one of those so badly. I cried when I found her gone and feathers all over the place. My husband (who is a non gardener and chicken person) felt so bad for me, we drove 1 1/2 hrs. to pick up another that turned out to be a roo!

Now, they have a small enclosed run that is totally covered with hardware cloth.

Mary

 

[Smart Red]

I've thought about installing an automatic door. I've dreamed of not getting up at first light to let my flock outside, knowing that it was done. I've especially longed for a door that locks them in automatically at night when I'm out or when they are still flitting about and I want to get to bed early. BUT instead of putting in an auto-door, I went for a double door system.

Yup! I have to get out there -- I really don't mind. I love being with the chickens - in all sorts of weather. I close and lock the pop door and slide down the inside door. Perhaps a coon is smart enough to open the pop door latch. . . I doubt it will get past the slide down door.

I've had the lights go out and the power go out. Then the door wouldn't work properly. I guess I just feel better with hands-on doors and forced time to play. I do intend to get the timer back out to the coop for more daylight, though. Just wish it didn't up the feed bills to use lights. Sigh!

 

[canesisters]

Mary, I've heard enough horror stories about door malfunctions that I will always be careful. Very sorry, by the way, about your sussex girl! They are really super sweet birds. I have 2 and they are wonderful.
Red, mine isn't dependant on the power. It's got a solar battery - so ti works even when the power is out (in theory).
Just about every night, while the dogs are out for 'last call', I wander down there to make sure that everyone is tucked in and the door is closed. It's the only time I can eaisly get my hands on the silver laced whiney-dottes ( ) and I like to take a peek at everyone to make sure everything looks right. My easter-egger has a constant case of nasty-butt so her hiney feathers get trimmed often. And since I've had some sort of upper respiratory crud break out, I pick each one up and listen to their breathing and check their eyes.
I like to think that my nightly visits have trained the dogs to go out the door and straight to the coop - since they usually follow me first and then go off to do their business - but that may be giving them way too much credit.
(I think that I might be the only person who has chickens smarter than their dogs...)

But back to gardening - does anyone garden in the dark??? I saw a special once on this guy who had done this whole amazing landscape - working mostly at night with a headlamp. With the heat and humidity... that just seems like an idea worth trying.