Effect of Environment on Growth and Feed and Water Consumption of Chickens IV. The Effect of Light on Early Growth

Abstract

The effect of light on the growth of Rhode Island Red chicks during the first few weeks of age is reported in this paper. Various combinations of light and dark periods during the 24 hours were investigated. The best growth was obtained when the lights were on one hour and off the succeding three to 4 hours in each 24 hours. From a study of light intensity ranging from one-tenth of one foot candle to 24 foot candles, it appears that light only great enough for the chicks to see to feed is as efficient as greater intensities. An intensity of one foot candle is sufficient, and it appears that a greater intensity is simply a waste of energy and expense. On the basis of a series of 5 experiments it appears that ultraviolet radiation at 2,587 Ångstrom units may accelerate growth. Lights of different colors (white, red, blue and green) gave relatively the same growth. The color of the light does not seem to be important to growth.