Lighting techniques for the domestic fowl

Synopsis The investigation was designed to find lighting patterns for maximum performance from laying chickens. An experiment is described involving two strains of poultry and four rearing and two laying lighting treatments. The rearing treatments were applied from day‐old to 18 weeks of age. Treatment 1 was considered to be the control and consisted of alternating periods of 6 hr light and 18 hr dark. Treatment 2 was 18 hr light and 6 hr dark from weeks 0–4 and then similar to treatment 1 from 4–18 weeks. Treatment 3 was similar to treatment 2 except that the light period was 9 instead of 6 hr from 4–18 weeks of age. Treatment 4 was similar to treatment 2 except that red instead of white light was used at the same intensity from 2–18 weeks of age. Laying treatment A consisted of 6 hr light in each 24 hr at 18 weeks of age followed by 4 weekly increases of 45 min. light followed by weekly increases of 20 min. per week to the end of the experiment. Laying treatment B consisted of 9 hr light in each 24 hr a...