Coop lighting is an important aspect of raising healthy birds. Light affects living organisms, and a properly selected light regime can improve the health of chickens and have a beneficial effect on layers.
Chicken house lighting
Light structures can be purchased in the store or made by hand. But, in order to select and install lamps in the hen house, you first need to familiarize yourself with the information about the types of lighting in the house.
What kind of lighting to choose for the poultry house
The question of what kind of lighting should be in the chicken coop is one of the most important. The light in the chicken coop must be properly selected: the right lamp power, the right color and flicker frequency. It is not at all difficult to make the right choice among the huge assortment on the market, it is only important to follow a few simple steps-recommendations when choosing lighting in the house:
- Remember a simple calculation: 6 sq. m you need 60 watts. Lamps in the right amount are selected depending on how much the chicken coop room is.
- It is better to choose fluorescent lamps with a power of 40 watts.
- Fluorescent lamps can be replaced with fluorescent ones with a flickering effect, but in order to avoid adverse effects on the visual system of chickens and chickens, the recommended flicker frequency is 26 kHz.
- You can stop at sodium lamps, they are standard produced with a power of 50 watts and are ideal for lighting dark corners.
- When choosing lighting for a home chicken coop, you should pay attention to the color of the lamps:
- blue color calms and prevents the manifestation of any aggressive actions in chickens;
- the green color in the laying room has a beneficial effect on their physical development;
- red lighting in the chicken coop is best avoided, because it lowers egg production in chickens;
- orange, in contrast to the previous color, on the contrary, increases the reproductive ability of laying hens and increases the number of eggs.
A few more recommendations:
- Due to the fact that the chicken coop should be wet, it is better to equip the room, all electrical wiring, sockets and electrical panels outside the house.
- It is recommended to use thick shades and protective nets on lamps in poultry houses. This will help prevent bulbs from breaking and injuring hens and chicks from shrapnel.
- When installing lighting, you need to take into account the season and the daily biological rhythms of the birds. This will be discussed in more detail below.
- Brightness is also of great importance. Newborn chicks require bright lighting, up to 30 lux, while older chickens (after 21 days) require a minimum, only about 5 lux. When a rooster is in the hen house, the brightness should be set to 15 lux.
You can turn off the light in the chicken coop at night only after all the hens are located in their roosts, otherwise they will be disoriented and until dawn they will not be able to find their place.
It is better to choose lamps that provide a smooth damping, the lighting of the chicken coop should be as natural as possible. A smooth transition from light to darkness will not cause aggression or panic in birds, and a sharp shutdown, on the contrary, can lead to crush and panic in the house.
How and what is influenced by chicken coop lighting
Light plays one of the most important roles in the life of all life on Earth, and chickens are just confirmation of this. Properly selected lighting can have a beneficial effect on the productivity of birds, reduce the number of injuries, adjust their biorhythms and make the life of a poultry farmer much more comfortable.
There are two important factors in assessing lighting in a bird house: the intensity and duration of daylight hours. The first of them helps to regulate some processes, and its benefit is expressed in the ability to:
- helping very young chickens find water and feed;
- reducing the number of cases of aggression: pecking and trampling;
- carrying out various preventive procedures with birds without creating panic and causing moral harm to laying hens;
- reduction in terms of annual molting;
- monitor the younger generation of chickens.
The second factor also allows you to regulate some of the vital processes of birds, among which are possible:
- regulation of feed consumption;
- broiler growth acceleration;
- control of puberty and the laying of eggs by laying hens;
- in the summer months, control over the thermal regime of hens is possible.
Both factors are fundamental and significantly affect the life of birds inside the chicken coop. Poultry professionals also distinguish 2 main light modes: continuous and intermittent. The first one implies a clear day-night block, that is, the light regime changes twice a day, creating an artificial sunrise and sunset. The second mode allows you to create several (2 or more) light blocks during the day. But experts are still leaning towards the continuous option of lighting the chicken coop. Young growth, laying hens and broilers need to select different light modes with different light temperatures and room lighting times.
It is important to remember that darkness is an important period in the development and maturation of the bird's body: at this time, bone tissue forms, a change in calcium metabolism occurs, as a result of which the egg shell becomes denser; immunity is strengthened, so completely isolating chickens from the dark and keeping them in constant light is also wrong.
Winter house lighting options
In winter, domestic hens need light especially strongly, because the duration of natural daylight hours is reduced - life processes are slowed down, and hens begin to carry fewer eggs. In order to prevent the loss of fertility of chickens in the winter, it is necessary to establish an artificial light regime.
In winter, on frosty days, it is inconvenient to visit the chicken coop almost at night, so thoughtful poultry farmers have come up with a way to get rid of the daily late walks - creating a relay. To do this, you need to purchase a time timer. You can buy it anywhere: in the market, in a store or on the Internet. A cheap timer with a dozen modes would be a good option.
How to make a relays for a chicken coop with your own hands at home? The algorithm is as follows:
- Assemble the luminaire from OSB or other orientated particle boards.
- Based on the size of the luminaire, mount the electrical wiring.
- Assemble the lamp and fix it on the metal corners on the wall of the chicken coop.
- Connect the timer to the lamp and set the desired readings on the counter.
The light in the hen house should be turned on at dawn, and turned off not at sunset, but later.
The average daylight hours should last about 14 hours. The lighting in the home coop in winter is regulated depending on the daylight hours.
This condition will create the correct regime for the birds, and compliance with the regime ensures good growth and development for the birds.
Heating the house in winter
In winter, the chicken coop should be quite warm so that the chickens do not freeze and become sick. Heating of chicks in winter plays an important role in poultry keeping. If it is not possible to leave a brood with a brooding mother, the best option would be to make a brooder. A brooder is, conditionally, a box for chicks in the first days of their life, in which the correct heating and lighting is adjusted.
The main requirements for creating a brooder:
- Permanent dryness of the floor.
- No slipping on the floor.
- Installed container or tray under the bottom for feces.
- The brooder should be well ventilated but free from drafts.
- In such a box, the humidity level should not be too high.
- It is necessary to monitor the heating system so that it does not overheat the chickens.
- It is best to move the chicks away from the heater and the entire heating system.
The creation of such a brooder will help the chicks not freeze in winter, but grow healthy and strong. Thermal conditions are especially important for birds hatched in an incubator.
Broilers are also more sensitive to light changes. For artificial brood, both lighting and a reinforced heating system are important.
Recommendations for developing your own lighting system
Lighting for poultry plays an important role in the raising of birds. Different fixtures and LED bulbs can affect chickens in different ways. Recommendations for creating your own chicken house lighting program:
- You need to start light restrictions when the bird reaches a weight of 100-150 g or after the first week.
- If the bird gained its weight earlier, you need to start changing the light mode earlier, regardless of time.
- It is best to use only one solid block of darkness.
- It is recommended not to change the time of turning on and off the light unnecessarily - let it be better automatic.
- In summer, the hours of darkness can be shortened somewhat.
- Before slaughtering, the light phase should be increased to 23 hours, and the day before catching, the brightness should also be increased to 20 lux to prepare the bird.
- Smooth turning on and off the light will help protect birds from aggression.
- For summer, the dark block can be slid so that it ends at dawn.
Lighting is essential for any bird, and domestic hens are no exception. A properly selected system can increase fertility, and the egg itself can do better in terms of technical characteristics. In winter, it is better to build a brooder for chicks: it will help protect them from the harmful effects of low temperatures.
It is also recommended to use automatic control of lighting in the house.
The relay can be made with your own hands from materials that have nowhere to put, or you can buy it in specialized stores.
Why do so many lighting selection steps? They are simple, but the result is colossal. It is possible to cope with the selection and installation of lighting and heating systems in a day, and the positive consequences of them will delight the poultry farmer for more than one year. For a more detailed look at the process of creating artificial lighting for birds, watch the step-by-step video.