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Unknown to many poultry farmers, light is much more important for the hens than just for sight. Light plays a significant role in poultry reproduction, growth and behaviour.
Light controls sexual maturity in birds. Layers should be given 24 hours of light for the first four weeks. Increasing day-length (light) leads to faster sexual maturity hence earlier lay.
Pullets stimulated to lay before week 17 or 18 may never achieve their lifetime productivity potential. For maximum egg production, 16 hours of light is required at peak lay.
At no time should photoperiod be reduced during lay. A word of caution though: too much light in a layers’ house may lead to vices such as cannibalism, aggression and even egg eating.
This informs the cardinal rule of building a chicken house in an east-west orientation.
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