Chicken Coop

[Heij83]

Lighting is not needed from what I have seen. They go in and hop up onto the roosting bars when the sun is setting, now in the summer sometime between 4 and 6 PM.

I don't think it's necessary. We got a heat lamp and hung it right over a perch at the beginning of our poultry farming. What happened? Well, everyone moved to the sides; no one wanted to sit under the heat lamp. And the little chicks, up to two months old, sit under the mother's down in the nesting box first, and then for a while also up on the roosting bar.

We let our adult chickens roam free during the day. But we don't let them out earlier than 10 AM, after a fox came here one morning around seven and had a feast. Now, with the chickens out only about 10 AM - 5 PM, only a few chickens have been lost, and then to hawks. You notice the difference because the fox carries the prey home to the den, but the hawk can't carry a whole chicken; instead, it eats the thighs and neck clean and flies away when it's full, leaving the remains.

When we've forgotten to turn on the lighting, we've had to go and find the chickens, as some had gone and hidden outside. Now in summertime, we let them out to free-range around 11 AM so they've finished laying in the coop, otherwise, you can find eggs scattered around outdoors. They go into the house on their own, but not until 9-10 PM when the sun starts to go down.

If you're incubating, a heat lamp is essential. We currently have both ducklings and chicks, hatched in an incubator, and they're all lying under the lamp.

 

[KnockOnWood]

If you hatch in an incubator, a heat lamp is a must. We currently have both ducklings and chicks, hatched in an incubator, and they all stay under the lamp.

OK, they don't have a mom to crawl under then, of course.