Most of the problem was that while we were busy with the new baby, the weather continued to turn wintery with progressively shorter days. I did have the lights set up to run on the timer, but two things happened... first the timer was still set for 4am. That's simply not enough hours now that it gets dark by 4pm. If you remember from a previous post, chickens need 14 hours of light per day to produce eggs. Secondly, one of the florescent lights died, leaving only a single 23 watt light (florescent) to light both coops.
So, to solve all the problems and perhaps restore the egg production, we tore off the tin roof and replaced it with clear fiberglass panels. the new panels were exactly the same size so replacement was quite easy. These panels are lightly diffused and quite bright, like greenhouse panels. Next I replaced all the light fixtures with models that had a reflector built in, and installed new 23 watt (equivalent to 100w incandescent) daylight color bulbs, ending up with 4 lights in all, 2 per coop.
In the middle of the roofing project, as luck would have it, a winter storm blew through. First a drizzling rain and then a hailstorm! We were quickly covered with frozen rain and it was quite cold! The chickens were trying to huddle around us to escape the weather. Fortunately it didn't last long and within 20 minutes the sun again smiled down on us to thaw us out.
Isn't it amazing that the chickens knew the storm was coming, because they were in the coop a good 15 minutes before it hit. We could see the clouds approaching from the distance, but how did the birds know???
The finished product is quite astonishing! After tearing off the roof and installing the new panels on one side, we noticed that you can't even tell the difference between NO roof and NEW roof! Gone is the dark shadowy corners, replaced by bright healthy light. This should help the chickens as well as keep the coop "cleaner" since light itself is one of nature's sterilizers.
I should add that most of the time the chickens are not in the coop. We open the windows each morning so that they can roam the pasture and yard in fresh air, sunshine, looking for free food of bugs and grass. Its early morning and late evening that this will help, extending the daylight beyond what I can do with artificial light.
Here are some pics of the finished product:
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| Here's a front view showing the two coops. notice the bright white roof even on this dim cloudy day |
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| A quick look inside at the happy chickens, enjoying the indoor sunshine |
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| here is a quick view from our driveway. you can see the transition from fiberglass to tin on the right. |
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