My eco solution to rat problems

[lesc]

I've been looking for a solar powered light for my cube for a while. You can buy neat solar powered shed lights for about £25 that work really well, but anything for a hen house seems to run into the £100's & aimed at folk with much larger flocks.

 

Anyone with rare breeds will know they tend to lay with the light & egg production during autumn & winter drops off considerably.

 

Have Omlet considered sourcing or making a timed cube (& eglu?) light on the solar-powered shed light principle ?

 

All it would need to do would be to come on for a couple of hours in the morning & evening in the winter & it could really help extend our pure breeds' laying season.

 

Cheers!

 

Les

[craftyhunnypie]

I've got a cheap lamp post light from Focus near my chooks that we leave on most of the time & it casts a glow over the cube. Got a low energy saving bulb in it. I've also got a security light that comes on when they move around in the dark. Seems to keep them up that bit longer!

I'm still getting eggs too!

Emma.x

[Helly Welly]

I'm afraid i don't really agree with artificial lighting to increase egg production. The winter break is natural to chooks so who am i to disturb that?

 

If it is important then maybe you could screw a solar shed light to the inside wall of the eglu. the plastic is easy to screw in to.

[The Dogmother]

I like my girls to have the rest from laying too Helly - that and the moulting are a real strain on their systems, so they deserve the rest.

[Helly Welly]

I feel that if we disrupt their natural laying cycle then we are treating them as egg laying machines,

 

Just my opinion

[xChicken04x]

I just wanted to ask, if the solar light was on all night, wouldnt the chooks stay awake?

 

xx

[The Dogmother]

I'm afraid they would - they'd be awake and confused.

[Egluntyne]

I'm afraid i don't really agree with artificial lighting to increase egg production. The winter break is natural to chooks

 

And

 

I feel that if we disrupt their natural laying cycle then we are treating them as egg laying machines,

 

Just my opinion

 

I totally agree Helly Welly.

 

Sorry lesc.

[Lesley]

Me too - I like mine to have a rest from laying.

[Karen & co.]

Ditto here too, they lay if they want to, or not as the case may be

 

karen x

[craftyhunnypie]

The lights I have near my chooks aren't for their sake. They're for mine - so I can see what I'm doing around the garden & find my way to my sheds etc.

I don't agree with seeing chooks as egg machines - mine are pets & the eggs are a present from them - a sort of Xmas bonus!!!

 

Emma.x

[Jules.]

I have 3 solar lights around my Eglu, bought specially so I can see it in the dark. They aren't working at the moment, as no sun (if it shines) gets in that part of the garden at this time of year, & even when they light up, when it is pitch black outside we can only see the lights glowing, not the outline of the eglu

I am still on a mission for some solar fairy lights though!

[The Dogmother]

I got some solar lights from B&Q - the first lot packed up after a couple of weeks, so I took them back. The 2nd lot lasted abotu a month. I must pull them out, get the box out of the loft and take them back too!"

 

Total and utter pants!

[Jules.]

My lights ( I have 14 in total) were bought from a cheap shop in the sale, they cost £1.25 each. Although they don't cast a good light around them we have some lining the straight path down the garden- when we have had a suuny day & it goes dark they light up & it looks like a runway.

[xChicken04x]

I'm afraid they would - they'd be awake and confused.

 

Oh wow

 

Well then they wouldnt sleep at all then, right?

 

During the day (when its light) isnt it natural instinct to forrage? That would mean they would be awake but wouldnt be ableto forrage on the roosting bars

 

xx

[The Dogmother]

It would be like in the battery farms, where they increase the hours of daylight to make the hens lay more eggs - they don't get any sleep and are worn out! Bit like having a newbortn really

[lesc]

Just to be clear.....If anyone had read my original post properly, you would see that I was referring to a timed light, just to give my chucks an extra couple of hours daylight in the morning & in the evening.

 

I live in Scotland & our winter days are considerably shorter than even in the south of England, even at this time of year it is dark by 4.30pm & isn't light until 7.45am. I know I would feel the benefit of a couple of extra hours daylight in the depths of winter!

 

And in case anyone is concerned that I'm some rabid battery farmer, my chooks free range over quarter of an acre of woodland all day & everyday & are never shut in an eglu or cube run, which I personally feel not sufficiant for them to live 'naturally'......Although, I would never cast judgement on this forum over those who choose to keep their chooks in this way.

[Jules.]

Ah, see what you mean Lesc. I think your idea is a good one, & valid, for just a couple of hours a day. Maybe Omlet will consider this for the future- I also want a remote controlled Eglu door so I don't have to run down the garden these wet wild mornings!

[Lesley]

I live in Scotland & our winter days are considerably shorter than even in the south of England, even at this time of year it is dark by 4.30pm & isn't light until 7.45am. I know I would feel the benefit of a couple of extra hours daylight in the depths of winter!

 

Living in Scotland certainly does make a difference to the daylight hours and I can see your point now..............

[Egluntyne]

I live in Scotland & our winter days are considerably shorter than even in the south of England, even at this time of year it is dark by 4.30pm & isn't light until 7.45am. I know I would feel the benefit of a couple of extra hours daylight in the depths of winter!

 

Living in Scotland certainly does make a difference to the daylight hours and I can see your point now..............

 

Yes....me too.

[Helly Welly]

....me three

 

Perhaps you could put your location in with your username?

 

If you have an outdoor socket you could run a lead to the eglu for a light but plug it into one of those timer things? Our outdoor socket is actually in the shed so the timer would be sheltered form bad weather.

[Louise]

Where in Scotland are you Lesc

[lesc]

Hi all,

 

Thanks for your suggestions, I'm amazed that no one has brought out solar lighting with timers before now, maybe there is a technical reason that makes it impractical or too costly. I'll keep looking anyway.

 

Louise, I'm in Peebles in the Borders, are you the lady in Clovenfords ?

 

Cheers!

 

Les

[Egluntyne]

Found ...This...

 

I don't know if it is of any use.

 

This line amused me....."If we received 1p every time someone emailed us about solar powered poultry lighting we would have earned 23p during September."

 

It does suggest that there is a need for it though.

[Jules.]

Egluntine, where do you manage to FIND all this stuff? No sooner had someone posted a question, but you are off with an answer with your posh purple link- it takes me half an hour to even attempt a posh purple link

one day I'll manage it with speed.