>
> May understanding is that chickens need increasing day length when they
> grow up to trigger the laying cycle. Given that this is June 10 and the
> summer soltice is just around the corner, am I right to assume I would
have
> to use artifical light to get them to lay if I were to start with new
> chicks now?
>
> I gather from my experience so far that I really need to build a secure
> chicken coop with a totally enclosed or electric fenced group of runs
> opening from different sides of the hen house. I suppose I should have a
> dog, but the liability risk is too great here. I don't want, like
happened
> to a friend of mine, to pay for some joker's college just because they
> trespass on the place, approach a dog chained on the porch and, oh duh,
get
> bit.
>
> Any advise you all may have is appreciated. Mike Miller
*Dear Mike, my chickens did not reach egg laying age to somewhat late last
summer. So in the winter I put and ordinary light bulb (one of those shop
lights often sold in auto dept with a "cage" around the light bulb and a
handy hook to make placement on chicken coop ceiling easy) in the coop on a
timer. I believe I set it to come on a go off so that the total light of
the day was 16 hours, it worked they laved eggs pretty regularly all winter.
I am expecting them to start molting any time soon, which brings up a
question how long does it take them to get back into egg production.
Thanks Beth
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