What are the effects of exposing chickens to light 24 hours a day?!
What are the effects of exposing chickens to light 24 hours a day?
I believe this is what is done so that diurnal chickens will eat more, grow faster and lay more eggs. However, this is surely unnatural and I wonder how the quality of eggs and meat are affected by such procedures?
Answers:
Well, it really depends on what you are dealing with, broiler chickens or layers.
Most chicks, when first hatched, are put on 24 hours of light for the first week of life. This is to make sure they find the water and feed and learn where it is before you start turning out lights at night.
From there, it differs. Broiler chickens are only raised to about 6-8 weeks of age, so the lighting is not such a big factor, but I know that after the first week some hours of darkness are provided.
For layer chicks, you should follow a specific lighting schedule to allow the chickens' bodies to prepare to lay eggs. Most layer farmers use a step down program until about 16 weeks of age where it goes down to where the birds have only about 10 hours of light per day. Then they move the new pullets ot a layer facility and start gradually increasing the amount of light the birds receive each day. If light is given too quickly, it can lead to prolapse (blow-outs)....eggs too big for the pullet to safely lay. When the pullets reach peak production, they are usually on about 16-18 hours of light each day.
well ..truly this is an intriguing inquiry.. i would say it would be a critical factor to determine which type of light it is... bud light or perhaps miller light..once this is established you should be able to determine the effect.. best of luck and may you always find a pathway to the most perplexing questions in life..