How Does Light Effect Egg Production?
It is not uncommon for egg production to go down as the nights get longer and the weather gets colder. Any chicken farmer will tell you to leave a light on to increase egg production in the winter. I once mentioned this to my friend John. I told him that in my experience it really does make a difference. What he said next has me bewildered.
John said that when he was studying agriculture he was taught that it isn't the daylight hours that is responsible for growth and production but rather the dark hours of the night. WHAT!? He tried to explain to me that growth and production was stimulated not by longer daylight hours but by short, dark periods. WHAT!?
I think that is kind of like saying, "What came first, the chicken or the egg?" Maybe someone who is smarter than I am can explain this to me. Please comment and thanks :)
posted by Kathleen ~ the mama hawk @ Wednesday, November 02, 2005
10 Comments
10 Comments:
I have no idea how to make an educated comment on this. It does sound interesting. If you're really curious, maybe you should gogle the topic and see what you find.
I'm sure that someone smart enough could probably make me a firm believer on either side of the coin, depending on how they framed it.
Overall though, I think common sense will prevail no matter what research you do. Common sense to me on this topic suggests that everything in nature is necessary in balance. Dark and light are probably essential not only for the egg development, but for the chickens own sense of rythym too. I don't think artificial light is necessary, even in the winter months. For the healthiest, most natural eggs and chickens, it seems that the environment has it under control.
I believe that the chickens will lay what they are capable of and if they lay fewer eggs in the winter months, its probably their little bodies way of rejuvenating. Makes sense to me.
Let nature take its course :)
(I'm astonished I had that much of an opinion or comment on this topic. . . maybe we're related?)
Oh yea. We are definately related :)
Ok a physiologic explanation as far as I know in dealing with mammals. It is true that growth occurs at night! In the human body, there are several things that happen while you sleep. First, in the REM cylce of sleep, brain cell and neurons recharge and regenerate. This may happen during the day, but to a lot lesser degree. Furthermore, I will give you an example, again dealing with humans, that we recharge at night. Think about the asthmatic child. When do they become worse? well on a regular basis, children with asthma usually find their way to the parents bedroom at 3-4 a.m. in the morning. It is theorized that this happens because of a surge of steroid production earlier in the night followed by a physiologic decrease at about the hour of 4 a.m. They have been able to prove this drop. so, while we still need sunlight for Vitamin D, seratonin and other hormone production, we regenerate quite a bit at night. You may ask why then is it that if we sleep more why wouldn't we be more charged.. well in us it doesn't work that way.. so I don't know why chickens do that for sure, but that is my explanation..
If you really wanted to know my opinion.. at night is when the chicken fairies come and place the eggs!!!!!! hahahah!!!
Love you all and have a great day
MICHAEL.....
Question Mike...all those things you are talking about are related to sleep, not whether it is dark or light out, right?
I am all the way on board with your opinion...has anyone ever actually seen the chicken lay an egg? I haven't! I think that the Egg Fairy just doesn't like the cold.
From:
http://www.lifestyleblock.co.nz/articles/poultry/06_egg_production.htm
In a backyard situation, hens tend to lay fewer eggs than they might in commercial houses where artificial lighting is used to increase egg production. Free-range hens in winter take longer to manufacture each egg and they will not lay every day.
Commercial strains usually lay well throughout the winter if they have a warm house and an adequate diet, but most hens will not lay so well during the colder months, simply because they are using food energy to keep warm.
Makes sense to me... ºÜº
Sweet mercy... the things that'll get this family talking.
Okay, it is a given that hens lay fewer eggs in the winter and that there are alot of factors affecting that. THE QUESTION IS, Do hours of darkness stimulate egg production or do hours of light? (HOW DO IT KNOW!?)
Do they have chickens in Alaska? If they do, let's ask them what they think. Love ya
So funny to come back to this and see this dialouge. Dillon said it well in his post :)
What about chickens in Alaska Sasha?
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