Took 6 weeks to figure out why my hens stopped laying

I was positive it was mites or a predator stress thing, but it turned out they just needed more daylight hours. Added a $20 shop light on a timer, and they were back to normal within three days. Has anyone else wasted months over something this basic?

2 comments

2 Comments

mason2834d ago

Honestly, that "added a $20 shop light" part hit home. My buddy spent a whole summer convinced his chickens had some weird illness, took them to the vet and everything, just to find out they were sulking because the coop was too dark. They had him swapping out feed and buying special supplements for weeks before he finally bought a simple light and it fixed everything in two days.

julia8434d ago

Did you check if the light spectrum matters at all? I read somewhere that chickens see light differently than we do, like they need a certain wavelength to trigger laying. Regular shop lights are usually fine but some of those cheap LED bulbs can mess with their internal clocks if they flicker at the wrong frequency. Might explain why some people swear by a $20 fix and others still have issues even with lights on.