Mary Allen
If the hens lay fewer eggs in winter, this is not due to feeding. A hen’s working day is governed by light. However, it may not be on duty for more than 16 hours, as required by law.
Many physical processes in chickens are regulated by light. The wild ancestors of domestic chickens started the day with the first rays of the sun and went to bed at dusk. Since the Bankiva hens, as an original breed, did not lay their eggs for human consumption, but solely for reproduction, they ceased production when the days became shorter and the breeding conditions became worse anyway and started molting. When spring came and the days got longer, they started laying eggs again.
A hen has to eat a lot to produce the next day’s egg. With the currently short days, the diurnal chickens often do not have enough time to eat enough for a daily egg. The fact that they lay fewer eggs is not due to poor feeding, but rather to light control.
So if you want your animals to start the breeding phase or spring earlier, or if you want to increase their laying performance, you have to start with the light and artificially lengthen their rhythm. If you extend the light phase, hens who are not yet laying eggs will start to do so after a few days. This trick is not always used in hobby poultry farming. In commercial poultry farming, on the other hand, there is a precise light program. This determines the everyday life of laying hens or is specially designed for broilers so that they eat a lot and quickly grow large and ready for slaughter.
For chicken keepers who want eggs in winter, lighting in the chicken house is necessary. The easiest way to do this is to install a timer, with which the working day can be adapted to the darkness. However, the light should not be too erratic but gradually adjusted. If the duration of light were suddenly shortened by a few hours, the chickens could start molting just as suddenly.
It Must Not Be Too Light When Laying
Since the chickens go to the coop in the evening when it is dark, the day should be extended not in the evening, but in the morning. If the chickens are woken up earlier by the light, they start eating earlier, which stimulates other bodily functions. You don’t need a bright light for this, it is enough if the most important places in the barn are illuminated a little. In particular, the automatic feeder and drinking trough should be clearly visible. On the other hand, no light is needed for the laying nest, because the hens prefer a darker place to lay their eggs. Due to the early start of the day, oviposition often takes place. According to the Aviforum training documents, egg-laying begins around four to six hours after wake-up duty.
The light not only promotes egg-laying but also rapid growth and sexual maturity, especially in broilers. However, 14 hours of daylight should be sufficient for egg production. If it is light longer, this could also lead to aggressive behavior such as feather pecking. In such a case, the light can be dimmed. However, the light intensity must not fall below the legally prescribed 5 lux. On the other hand, according to the Animal Welfare Ordinance, the artificial day must not last more than 16 hours so that the animals are not overworked.
In commercial poultry farming, the duration of light is continuously increased in the starting phase in the layer house until it reaches the maximum after the chickens are 28 weeks old. To ensure that every hen can find its seat on the porch in the evening in large stables, the light is not switched off suddenly, but twilight lighting gives the hens half an hour to find their seat.