What brand of light timer is best for a chicken coop. The importance of additional lighting in winter

By their physiology, birds are more sensitive to light than humans. Their visual acuity is higher, but they are well oriented only in the presence of a sufficient amount of light. In the dark, chickens see almost nothing. This feature is widely used in the technology of keeping birds - when the light is turned off, the chickens stop all activity and fall asleep.

What does light affect?

In the process of growing, the farmer operates with two factors of illumination.

Intensity

It is measured in lux (Lx) and measures the brightness of light. To measure it, use special device- luxmeter.

If you have some skill, you can determine the intensity of lighting approximately, "by eye". Almost complete darkness is 0.5-1 Lx, bright twilight is about 5 Lx, bright artificial light in the room is about 50-70 Lx.

By changing the intensity of lighting in the poultry house, you can achieve the following goals:

• help day old chicks find food and water;
• reduce the amount;
• carry out manipulations with the bird without stress (trapping, vaccination, wing trimming, etc.);
• to provoke an annual molt, to reduce its terms;
• control the development of the young.

At large poultry farms, the cost of organizing lighting is up to 20% of the construction budget.

Daylight hours

The second important factor is light in the poultry house. In terms of the time of turning on and off the light, the following processes are regulated:

• feed intake;
• broiler growth;
• puberty and the beginning of oviposition of laying hens;
• annual molt;
• in the hot season, the production of heat by birds is controlled.

Based on these two indicators, a lighting program is compiled. It can be continuous - with one block of darkness or intermittent (with two, three or even four blocks of darkness). In a farm environment, it is better to use continuous programs. They will be different for broilers, replacements and laying hens.

Periods of darkness are very important for all birds without exception. At this time, the formation bone tissue, calcium metabolism changes (which is important for shell strength), important factors immunity.

Therefore, round-the-clock lighting for broilers and layers is contraindicated!

As for the color vision of chickens, then practical value has a low perception in the violet part of the spectrum. Blue light is perceived by chickens as darkness, therefore, when catching and regrouping the herd, blue lamps are used.

A bright poultry house is convenient for both chickens and staff. When arranging the lighting system, different intensities are provided in different areas of the chicken coop. So, chickens prefer to feed when the illumination on the feeder is 60 Lx, and for egg-laying and resting on the perch, they need twilight of 0.5-1 Lx.

The lamp mounting example shown in this photo is suitable for a small chicken coop.

Depending on the size of the room, several lighting lines are mounted. With cellular content, they are placed above the passages between the batteries. The height of the lines should be such that workers do not touch them with their heads, but can easily reach them with their hands for changing lamps and other maintenance (about 1.8 - 2 m). It is recommended to purchase and use shades for lamps to protect them from dust and moisture. If necessary, the shades can be painted blue or red (reduces pecking in chickens).

If the feeders are inside the cage (in the middle), then lighting should be additionally arranged above them in each cage.

Turning the light on and off is advisable to automate by installing simple electromechanical relays. In small farms, the brightness can be reduced by replacing the light bulbs with weaker ones or unscrewing them through one (although the uniformity of illumination will suffer).

The simplest automation of lighting in a chicken coop using a time relay (photo from the author's site).

In large farms, it is recommended to install a dimming system that includes a "sunrise-sunset" function. It allows you to adjust the light intensity throughout the growing cycle without fussing with bulbs. In addition, with such a block, the light in the house does not turn on abruptly, but smoothly, imitating the natural course of events. With this on and off, chickens do not experience stress.

In small farms, it is quite possible to get by with natural light by providing windows. And to increase the length of daylight hours in winter time years, hang one or more incandescent lamps over the feeders.

Too much sun can be a problem when early development pullets - in this case, it is necessary to provide for the possibility of setting darkness in the house (closing the windows with curtains or shutters).

Let's talk separately about which lamps are best used in the lighting system.

Advantages and disadvantages of different types of lamps

Ideally, lights used in a poultry house should be low energy, dust and moisture resistant, low maintenance, and dimmable. In poultry farming, several types of lamps are used.

Incandescent lamps

"Light bulbs of Ilyich" on large poultry farms are no longer relevant due to high energy costs. However, in a small chicken coop, they are quite appropriate. Their advantages are as follows:

• low cost of the lamp;
• ease of maintenance;
• environmental friendliness;
• good spectral range of light;
• it is possible to regulate the degree of heating with the help of thyristor installations;
• if necessary, they provide additional spot heating

Fluorescent Lamp

Classic fluorescent lamps for raising chickens are also a thing of the past.

It is fairly widespread. This type of luminaire gives a uniform White light They are relatively inexpensive and consume little electricity. They are durable, easy to install, and the cost of maintaining such a system is low. The cons include:

• cheap fluorescent lamps give a flickering effect that the human eye does not catch, but which a bird sees;
• from the point of view of chickens, such a lamp has a poor spectral range;
• to be able to adjust the intensity of lighting, you need to purchase lamps with dimmers, which are very capricious in a chicken coop and often fail;
• spent lamps cannot be thrown into the trash - they must be disposed of.

Energy saving lamp

The advantages of such lamps

• low energy consumption;
• the ability to select the desired spectrum (warm white).

The disadvantages include such moments

• high price;
• inability to adjust the desired brightness well;
• in the conditions of the poultry house they do not withstand the declared service life;
• used lamps must be disposed of.

There are special colored lamps for poultry farming from the Gazolek company on the market. They are called "Orion" and work on the principle of conventional "energy saving". True, the cost of such light bulbs is several times higher.

According to the manufacturer's recommendations, the combination of different colors (blue, white, red and green) in the house increases the productivity of broilers and layers. Note that science on this issue does not yet give unambiguous answers.

Energy-saving lamps do not require complex automation and ceiling lamps.

LED lamp

Today it is the most progressive type of lighting in poultry farms. The advantages of LEDs are many:

• long service life;
• resistance to pollution and damage;
• good spectrum of light;
• ease of maintenance;
• the possibility of fine regulation of intensity;
• low power consumption.

Such systems are quite expensive, but even compared to energy-saving light bulbs LEDs pay for themselves many times faster.

The photo shows various options performance of single LED lamps.

Lighting programs for broilers and egg birds will differ in both day length and intensity. When day-old chicks are settled in a poultry house, all types of hens need bright light and a long daylight hours. So chickens find food and water better, get used to each other and to the environment in the room.

The first 5-7 days for broilers and 7-14 days for replacements give only one hour of darkness and maintain a brightness of 40-50 lux. Further, programs are used depending on the goals pursued.

As for an adult laying hen, the light day for her should last 13-14 hours a day with a light intensity of 10-20 Lx, which is approximately 6 W per day. square meter gender.

With the cellular content of laying hens, the light regime comes to one of the first places, along with the choice of cross and feeding.

How to develop your own program

If you are serious about growing broilers, then in terms of maintenance, you need to follow the recommendations of the manufacturer of each particular cross. Suppliers post this information on official websites and distribute it in the form of a content guide.

To organize lighting in the chicken coop with your own hands, we recommend using the recommendations of our website.

The goal of any program is to organize feed intake in such a way as to stretch the chick's crop and allow him to first form the bones and then build muscle mass.

• Start significant light restriction when birds reach 100-150 grams, generally starting at 7 days old. It may be necessary to start before day 7 (if overweight is achieved).
• After the first day of light restriction, chicks will reduce their intake to 20% of normal. It's not scary, it will recover within 2-3 days. In the future, the bird will consume the amount of feed normal for its age, but with less hours of light. Chickens will develop larger crops.
• Use one block of darkness. Apply darkness at night even with dense walls to reduce the effect of light penetration.
• Keep the off time the same throughout the grow. Changing the lighting period is done using the light on time.
• In open-walled houses it is very important to know the time of sunrise and adjust the time of darkness accordingly.
• In general, reduce the period of darkness after the 21st day or when the chicks reach 800 g.
• Before slaughter, increase the time of the "day" to 23 hours. 24-48 hours before catching, increase the intensity of illumination to 10-20 Lx to acclimatize the bird to catching.
• During the hot season of the year, you need to reduce the number of hours of darkness. Let the bird eat in the cool of the night.
• In summer, combine the greatest block of darkness with the dawn. In winter, match the time the lights are off with the onset of dusk so that the bird wakes up during the coldest part of the night.
• It is best to organize a smooth on / off within an hour using a sunrise-sunset device.

Examples of lighting programs for broilers

It is irrational to be tied to age, because. There are many crosses of various productivity. Therefore, they are repelled from the estimated weight.

Weight less than 800 gr. at the age of 21 days

Weight 800-850 gr. at 21 days

Weight more than 850 g in 21 days

The last two programs show that darkness is being used to slow down the growth rate. muscle mass on a still unstrengthened skeleton.

Programs for replacement young animals

Light directly affects the puberty of pullets. That's why Golden Rule for laying hens says: never increase daylight hours during development. If natural light enters the house, then the following can be recommended:

• Use supplemental lighting so that daylight hours from 8 weeks onwards are similar to natural light at 18 weeks of age.
• Use supplemental lighting to ensure long enough daylight during the growth phase and then cut back to natural daylight at 18 weeks of age.

In general, the lighting program for replacement hens looks like this.

In this way, we prepare the birds for laying eggs and increasing feed intake.

Summing up, we note that light plays an important role in the growth and development of chickens. You can regulate these processes with the help of proven programs for additional lighting, where you set the duration of daylight hours and the intensity of lighting. There are programs for adult laying hens, for replacements and for broilers. They can be applied in ready-made, and can be slightly modified depending on the resulting productivity.

People who breed laying hens do not even suspect how important lighting is in the chicken coop. Thanks to him, you will not only be able to avoid playing "don't step on the egg" if you suddenly have to visit the chicken coop at night or in winter, but also provide the layers with a longer period of fruitfulness and faster puberty. However, there is another problem.

Chicken coop lighting has a positive effect on laying hens

Some, even knowing about the benefits of lighting in the chicken coop, are afraid of difficulties. However, building this thing with your own hands is not as difficult as you might think. Every chicken breeder should learn about all the details by reading this article. A lot of interesting things await you ahead: you will have to choose the color of the lamps, and even purchase a timer.

Solid pluses of light in the chicken coop

What are the positive effects on laying hens from chicken coop lighting? Their life will be more comfortable, the development of physiology will go easier and faster. Egg production will increase several times, and this will affect your economic benefits. Here is a list that tells you why the light in the chicken house should be:

• there will be more eggs, their quality parameters will improve - weight, shell density and size;
• the growth and development of laying hens will become more efficient;
• the percentage of injuries among chickens will decrease;
• productivity will last longer;
• feed will be better absorbed;
• increased chick survival;
• electricity costs are low.

Now you can be sure that the light is really needed.

Chicken coop lighting is a very serious issue.

What should be considered when organizing lighting?

Before you start making your own light in the house for your layers, it does not hurt to familiarize yourself with some theoretical aspects, which will help you organize everything correctly, in accordance with the instructions, because otherwise the lighting will not be useful. Particular attention should be paid to the intensity of the light supply. Having just been born, the chicks need light of at least 30 lux.

When the chicks begin to grow and gain height (takes an average of 21 days), you can reduce the intensity by adjusting it to just 5 lux. But if there is an owner of a bright tail in your chicken coop, that is, a rooster, the light should be brighter - at least 15 lux. Laying hens see extremely poorly at night. When sunset comes, or the hours of daylight hours are reduced in winter, the bird is literally disoriented, and only dawn serves as a deliverance for it.

But hens don't have to wait until sunrise to climb into their cozy perch. With the onset of evening, they will begin to take up places, and then some breeders deprive them of a source of light. It is not right. All birds must be in place, and only after that you can turn off the lights. Conclusion: light is very necessary in the evening and during the day in winter.

The transition from darkness to light should be smooth.

It may happen that the chickens will start fierce fights - the chicken coop will announce a warlike cluck, and decorate the torn feathers. To stop the aggression, turn down the brightness of the lighting by a couple of lux. This should calm the hens. Time passes, and lighting devices begin to lose ground due to dust coverage. Therefore, a margin of brightness is needed.

There should be no sudden flashes of light. From this, panic will begin among the hens, and such stress is unfavorable for egg production. So choose a lighting system that makes a slow, smooth transition from darkness to light. Everyone is familiar with the fact that the electricity is sometimes turned off? People are used to it, but for laying hens, a sudden shutdown will be a terrible shock.

The worst thing that can happen is that the poor people will trample each other. Therefore, in no case do not leave the lamps on all day. Alternate darkness with light, gradually accustoming the birds. Daylight hours for chickens should be long enough - at least ten hours, because puberty depends on it.

What lamps are suitable for a chicken coop?

On the organization of lighting rules in order to create with your own hands comfortable conditions for laying hens, do not end. There must also be suitable lamps, and picking them up is not at all difficult. For every 6 square meters there should be 60 watts. Therefore, the number of lamps is determined by the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe room. Light bulbs must be fluorescent, their power is 40 watts.

The color of the lamps affects productivity

The use of fluorescent lamps with a flickering effect is also allowed. However, this can have an adverse effect on the vision of laying hens. To avoid this, choose a lamp with a pulsation frequency of at least 26 kHz. There must be uniformity. To do this, place the bulbs so that the distance is the same. The color of the lamps also matters:

• Blue colour calm the birds, prevent any manifestations of aggression;
• green - responsible for the rapid development of the physiology of laying hens;
• red color is unfavorable - chickens will lay fewer eggs;
• orange color will increase productivity.

There are also sodium lamps. They have a common cartridge, consisting of two devices with a power of at least 50 watts. They do not have a pulsation function, you can turn it on all together, or each separately. If you need complete control over the inhabitants of the chicken coop, such a lamp will become ideal option, because its light spreads over the area in such a way that dark corners disappear. Learn a few more rules if you want to equip the house with your own hands.

• The chicken coop is quite humid. When installing wiring, sockets and switches, please note that the wires should not be localized on its territory. The shield outside the perimeter of the house is where the wiring should be located.
• Chickens can accidentally touch the lamp. This can be avoided - install thick shades.

Light bulbs in the chicken coop are best installed in shades

Installation of lighting in winter

Lighting in the poultry house in winter is a separate issue. Now you need a timer. But more on that later. Dawn and sunset now come on time, which is why the regime is lost, it becomes colder, as a result of which all the processes of the bird's body slow down, so there are fewer and fewer eggs. With the help of an artificial increase in daylight hours, you can normalize the performance of laying hens. Let the light burn for 13 hours.

In winter, additional light is required without fail, although it must be applied before the onset of December. Shedding in chickens will end in November, and from that moment on, begin to gradually adjust the intensity and time of lighting, for which you need a timer. Each dawn for birds should begin with the inclusion of lamps. Sunset should not be a reason to turn off the light - wait a few more hours.

With the help of an artificial increase in daylight hours, you can normalize the performance of laying hens

Yes, the chicken coop will have to be visited almost at night, but such sacrifices are necessary in winter, as they will bring the desired results. If you find that you can't get up so early and trudge to the poultry house, you can use a timer - a great aid for every chicken owner. You can do it yourself:

• assemble a lamp from an approximate particle board;
• mount the wiring, strictly measuring the size of the lamp;
• assemble the lamp, using metal corners as fasteners;
• hang on the ceiling, power outlet;
• buy an electronic timer, run a lamp through it.

In winter, the chicken coop definitely needs additional light.

What timer is right for you? Normal, Chinese-made, with ten modes of operation. It will turn out a good time relay and not requiring serious cash costs, special efforts. By the same principle, the timer can be used to ventilate the chicken coop, which is also important. In winter it is not necessary, but in summer you will be satisfied.

By choosing the type of light bulbs, their color, location, building a timer that will facilitate your work, you will perfect place for comfortable life laying hens not only in winter, but also at any time of the year. It will take a lot of time, but the result justifies the means and efforts.

Raising chickens is not that difficult. It is only necessary to adhere to the necessary rules. Experienced poultry farmers are well aware that chicken coop lighting has great importance and use this circumstance to obtain greater benefits from the management of their economy.

The lighting in the chicken coop is not installed for the convenience of the owner. The fact is that chickens are very sensitive to light, at dusk they see almost nothing. When dusk comes, they become less active, and when turned off, they immediately fall asleep. By increasing the length of daylight hours, the period of active wakefulness of the chicken increases. Chickens lay more, their eggs are larger, their shells are thicker.

Increased daylight hours means achieving optimal conditions for the assimilation of feed, and hence for the full growth and development of birds. In addition, good lighting helps to avoid injuries that happen in the dark. Chickens with a bright poultry house are much more active and healthier, they gain weight faster. But the light in the chicken coop should not be on all the time, the birds need time to rest, which they must spend in the dark. This has a beneficial effect on their immune system and normalizes calcium metabolism, which ensures the formation of bone tissue.

Video “Correct lighting in the house”

From the video you will learn about what lighting should be in the house.

Lighting planning

Due to the peculiarity of chickens, it is difficult to see with a lack of light, the lighting of the poultry house must be properly planned. As a result, it is a solution to many issues: the brightness of lighting, the time to increase the length of daylight hours, the range of the emission spectrum of lamps. By adjusting these parameters, you can influence the amount of food eaten, the rate of weight gain, behavior, and even regulate the process of molting. The room is zoned according to the intensity of lighting: in the nest area there should be twilight - below 5 Lx, and near the feeders - bright and intense light - 50-70 Lx.
If chickens are kept together with adult chickens, then in the zone of young animals the illumination should be more - 30-40 Lx, than for adults - 10 Lx. Up to 15 Lx increase the intensity of light if a rooster lives in a chicken coop with a family. It happens that chickens start fights and injure each other. In order for the birds to calm down, the brightness of the light must be reduced.

The light is turned on a few hours before the start of the natural daylight hours and a few hours after sunset. In order not to cause stress in chickens, the light should not be turned on at once at full power. If possible, it is better to equip the lighting system with a timer with a dimmer.

When used, the light turns on and off gradually, reaching maximum power in a few minutes, simulating sunrise and sunset. If this is not possible, then the light is first turned on away from the perches and nests where the chickens rest, and after a few minutes the general lighting is turned on. In the evening they do it in reverse order. Completely turn off the light when all the hens perched. The optimal length of daylight hours is 10-14 hours.

Characteristics of chicken coop lamps

The cheapest light bulbs are incandescent bulbs. They have good spectrum range, no flickering, they are safe. In addition, the lamp itself works as a spot heating element. Its disadvantage is the high power consumption. But in small farms, with a small number of lamps, it is still used. In this case, incandescent lamps with a power of 40-60 watts are used. For every 6 sq. m chicken coop relies 1 light bulb. For large poultry houses, more economical options are used, for example, the use of LED lamps. They have a very long, more than 50 thousand hours, service life, white light of warm filling in the range of 2800-3200 K, operating temperature range from -20 to +50 degrees, dust and moisture protection. Fluorescent or fluorescent lamps are also used.

It is necessary to choose lamps with a flicker frequency of at least 26 thousand Hz so that it does not affect the eyes of birds. These lamps are very cost-effective, you can choose the right shade of light, in our case - warm white. Their disadvantage is the content of harmful mercury and the need to dispose of them. When arranging lighting in a poultry house, you need to take into account the effect of color on chickens: red reduces the number of eggs laid, orange promotes reproduction, with green light, chickens develop and grow better. Blue is a calming color for birds, which is used when chickens need vaccinations, wing trimming, and various other manipulations.

When mounting the lighting system, take into account that the house is quite damp. Therefore, the electrical panel is located outside it, and in the room itself they strive to conduct as few wires as possible. All lamps must be covered with thick-walled glass shades.

Lighting in winter

Decide what kind of lighting you need winter period and how long should it be in the chicken coop in winter? With a decrease in the duration of daylight hours, the intensity of all processes in chickens slows down, the number of eggs becomes much less.
Therefore, starting in November, they increase the natural daylight hours by turning on electric lamps in the chicken coop for several hours before dawn and after sunset. By extending daylight hours to 12-13 hours, egg production can be increased by 30%. In winter, it is especially convenient if the lighting is mounted using automatic timers and relays.

Video “Lighting in winter”

From the video you will learn how to make the right light in the house in the winter.

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