Here is a calender you can check for daylight hours for different areas in the United States. The average hen needs 14 hours of daylight for "optimum egg laying". Optimum laying are the jkey words. Temperature extremes, stress, feed, et.. can affect laying too.
http://www.calendar-365.com/calendar/2012/June.html
Cathryn rainbowsilkies MI
From: elizalisaj <elizalisajames@gmail.com>
To: CHICKENS-101@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, December 21, 2011 10:33 PM
Subject: [CHICKENS-101] 14 hours of day light
I have followed the lighting discussions closely through the last year or so and I have found them to be confusing at best. I have done some research though and this is what I have found.
For those of us in the deep deep south, that would be the south that is north of Mexico, not the south that is north of Louisianna which is very far north if you ask me.... the 14 hours of daylight conversations don't make any sense at all.
I track all my daily egg production and our production peaked in mid November. We certainly didn't have 14 hours of daylight at that time. The daily production seems to be very strongly correlated with the outside temperatures which is almost always in the 50's and 60's in the winter but when it drops to the 30's, the egg production drops with it.
I found an interesting website and found that in my neck of the woods, 14 hour days happen between June 11 and June 30. Yep, that's right. If the chickens actually did require 14 hours of daylight, I would have just over two weeks of production each year. If it just influences egg production, I would have a peak in June, not November.
I don't know the right answer for everyone, I only live in Texas so I have no idea what life is like in say, North Dakota. But, for us deep southerners who hate being called "central" when we can get to Mexico in less than 4 hours, the lighting discussions are seriously confusing.
For those of us in the deep deep south, that would be the south that is north of Mexico, not the south that is north of Louisianna which is very far north if you ask me.... the 14 hours of daylight conversations don't make any sense at all.
I track all my daily egg production and our production peaked in mid November. We certainly didn't have 14 hours of daylight at that time. The daily production seems to be very strongly correlated with the outside temperatures which is almost always in the 50's and 60's in the winter but when it drops to the 30's, the egg production drops with it.
I found an interesting website and found that in my neck of the woods, 14 hour days happen between June 11 and June 30. Yep, that's right. If the chickens actually did require 14 hours of daylight, I would have just over two weeks of production each year. If it just influences egg production, I would have a peak in June, not November.
I don't know the right answer for everyone, I only live in Texas so I have no idea what life is like in say, North Dakota. But, for us deep southerners who hate being called "central" when we can get to Mexico in less than 4 hours, the lighting discussions are seriously confusing.
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