[slowef]

http://www.roosterbooster.co.uk/

Any opinions on this, I saw it for my chickens but is there a cheaper/better one available?
Sandra
xx

[Aunt Sally]

I think it's best to keep hens in as natural a way as possible.  Forcing extra daylight on them during the winter smacks of factory farming methods to me - just my opinion though !

My two didn't go of lay during last winter anyway  :roll:

[WG.]

I didn't think roosters laid eggs anyhow!

[richyrich7]

To be honest I've tried lighting hens over the winter and it does give excellent results as regards to eggs BUT I don't think it probably does them any favours and you won't get more eggs out of them in the long run ( so I read ).

To do it cheaply is very simple. Buy a cheap plug in timer & plug your light into that. Set it so it comes on in the early hours of the morning you will need to calculate it with sunset to give you 12/14 hrs of light eg. sunset 7pm your light needs to come on at 5am. most of the cheap under £10 will do it in 15 mins increments which I have found to be ok, with a little research regarding sunrise - sunset times you can calculate for the whole year in advance. A energy saver bulb  works just as well as a normal bulb and you don't need a high wattage. By having lighting in the earlier hours only you get round the problem of "dimming" o prepare for the evening roost. Needless to say the light can be set to go off after sunrise, mine used to go off at 8am by that time I was up and it was a quick easy visual check that the light was working.

1 point to remember is that you will need ample space in the coop for the birds else they will be packed in like battery hens  :cry:  also food and water must be available in the coop.

The above is just my own personal experience some may disagree completely with the idea or with what I've said.

Myself this time I can't see me trying it again, as Aunty says I'm trying to give my next lot  a more natural life and hopefully a longer, happier, healthier more productive life.

Hope this helps
Rich

[slowef]

I only looked as I don' have an electricity supply to the hen house its just too far up the garden.  I am not bothered about eggs I just wondered if the chickens benefited from extra light, I get S.A.D. syndrome in the winter  
 
If they are ok without I am fine with that, just want them to have whats best. I would never want them to suffer or feel like battery hens and if thats what it would mean its early to bed then

Any other recommendations for winter light for them less / more food, any extras, etc etc??

[WG.]

Artificial lighting is a contributory factor to the stress levels experienced by battery hens.  Put it another way; they need darkness.

[slowef]

Cool, no lights no stress will do thanks

[Aunt Sally]

Good result slowef