LED christmas lights to induce laying in mature female muscovy ducks experiment

[DUCK_GARDENER]

  Ok, Here is the experiment:
I am going to try to induce out of season laying of eggs, fertile or unfertile, for table use only, using a string of LED christmas lights on a timer set to mimic the first natural day of 14 hours of daylight for our location. The timer will be set for the number of hours of natural daylight for November 7, 2009 +15 minutes of additional light, with daily increases in light duration every day until a total of 14 hours daily is achieved. At this point the 14 hour artifical day-length will be continued until lay is acheived or until 2 months have passed if no laying results. If result are positive and laying begins with the artifical day-length increase, the artifical day-length will be continued until the natural light day-length is equal to or greater than the 14 hour artifical day-length. The number of eggs, if any, laid by each of the hens will be tallied each week and recorded here for the duration of the experiment. Any abnormalities or other information which presents itself will also be recorded
Theory: out of season egg laying can be induced in mature muscovy ducks using a eco-friendly sting of LED Christmas lights on a timer at a reduced electricity usage compared to conventional lightbulbs.
If, at any time, the ducks are, or seem adversely affected by the experiment, it will be immediately stopped. If anyone knows of any reason why this may harm the ducks, please reply here so that the experiment can be halted asap. Information on feed, temps, natural light amounts, and LED lights Specs, and light placement arangement and hight in relation to the ducks will be in next posting: Nov 07,2009.
Any questions, as well as any comments in relation to this experiment are gratefully welcomed. Cross you fingers...here we go!
DUCK_GARDENER

[Cathy]

Only thing that I have to offer is that when using artificial light with chickens they add it in the morning as opposed to at night; not sure if the same precautions are needed for ducks since they're fairly nocturnal as opposed to chickens. 

My only other thought is have you considered that this might affect laying next spring & their regular molt cycle?

[DUCK_GARDENER]

I have considered the effect to the laying cycle and molt, which is why I am adjusting both morning and night to mimic the first 14 hour day here, april 15, which is 5:55a-7:55pm DST. I want to see how it will effect their regular cycle, also. I am not even sure that the LED light will induce laying as it is a different type of light, but that is why it is an experiment. (As you may have noticed, I was a science major back in the day,pre-kids!) Anyway, the muscovy are amazing and I would like to take the known information and ammend it just a little. They may need a more yellow-sunshine light at such a low level. I cannot wait to find out.

Anyway here are as many specs on the experiment as I could gather:
They are on 4 parts Mazuri Maintience feed and 2 parts wheat berries with 1-2 teaspoons chick grit(every 4th day they get oyster shell instead of grit.) They also get insect treats and fresh greens and grass at about an equal volume to their feed. All feed is offered free choice and available at all times.
They have nesting sites available in the pen and have a large mortar tub to bath in with water changed daily. Water is available at all times. Their bedding material is oat straw.
The timer is only adjustable at 30 minute intervals, so adjustments will be made every second day for an average of 15 minutes of change daily. The adjustments will be alternated evening, then morning, etc.
The timmer is an outdoor grounded timer rated at 125VAC  60 hz, 15A restive,10A tungsten, at 1/2 HP.
The lights are 50 cool white LED series GLobe lights about 1/2 diameter on a 16.3 ft total length at 4 inch spacings, rated as indoor/outdoor use and use 4.8 watts. The string is doubled and placed over the sleeping/bathing area of the pen. The light extends to the eating area of the pen. They are at a hight of 4 1/2 feet from the ground, before bedding materiald were added. Bedding materials are kept at about 4 inches deep at this point.

[DUCK_GARDENER]

Ok, I am going to type all the info for the 3rd time(kids and timed out) bear with me. If I miss anything, I will adjust it later.
The amounts are adjusted from sunrise and evening twilight. Light minutes are added in incriments of 30 minutes, every other day due to timer constraints. A further adjustment will be made on or around Dec 10 to accomidate a later sunrise, adding a further 30 minutes at the end of the morning to cover the gap in light time.

DATE   SUNRISE   SUNSET   PM TWILIGHT   AM/TIMER  PM/TIMER   + MINUTES OF LIGHT   TOTAL LIGHT
NOV07  6:28        4:56        5:24               N/A          4:30-6         34                              11.5
NOV08  6:29        4:56        5:23               N/A          4:30-6         34                              11.5
NOV09  6:30        4:55        5:22               6-7          4:30-6         64                               12
NOV10  6:31        4:54        5:21               6-7          4:30-6         64                               12
NOV11  6:32        4:53        5:20               5:30-7     4:30-6          94                               12.5
NOV12  6:33        4:52        5:20               5:30-7     4:30-6          94                              12.5
NOV13  6:35        4:51        5:19               5:30-7     4:30-6:30     124                              13
NOV14  6:36        4:51        5:18               5:30-7     4:30-6:30     124                               13
NOV15  6:37        4:50        5:18               5-7         4:30-6:30      154                              13.5
NOV16  6:38        4:50        5:17               5-7         4:30-6:30      154                              13.5
NOV17  6:39        4:49        5:16               5-7         4:30-7           184                              14

DEC10  7:00         4:42        5:11               5-7:30    4:30-7           184                               14

[DUCK_GARDENER]

Everything ok so far. The Drake has started to act... well drake'ish' , raising his top feathers to the hensand trying to mount them. The hens are starting to avoid him as much as possible except at night as they all sleep in the same area of the pen, together. Their feed consumption has gone up considerably, almost double,but it has dropped in temp a little(around 10 degrees.) They are active and seem to be calm, with no undue stress being evident. They are all staying in their own areas during the day. The hens have developed favorite spots where they rest on the ground. They have not shown any interest in the nesting boxes, other than checking them out at first. Guess we will try different type of nest box. I was thinking a 3-5 gallon storage box turned upside down with a opening cut out of the side with fresh straw inside up in the old chicken nesting area, to maximize floor space.(they have steps up to it and have gone up into it before to search around in it. Maybe they like it up there, for nesting anyway. Koko likes to sit up there sometimes. Smokey has also gone up in it, especially as it is really too short a ceiling for the drake to stay up there. It is about 34 inches tall. It would be easy for me if they like it to nest as it has egg access doors up there!)
 We are up to 12 & 1/2 hours and at day 6 of 11 to increase light amount.

[DUCK_GARDENER]

also forgot to mention that the girls have developed a lower hanging belly,but that may be due to increased feed.

[DUCK_GARDENER]

Update Nov 21. 14 hours of light!
We have turned the lights on for the entire daylight period instead of just during the morning and evening, as the weather change here has made it necessary to use the tarp for rain protection occassionally. It was easier to just change the timer rather than to have to reset it each time we tarp.

New behavior! The duck Smokey allowed the drake to mate her yesterday! (the kids caught them at it! Boy, I must say that she looked guilty for the rest of the day!) Their food consumption is up  2 1/2 times since the start of the experiment. Their water used to be filled once a day, now they need additional water through out the day.(this could be due to spillage during the "not ready to mate" stage).
We have not caught the drake and Koko mating yet, but the drake seems a lot more mellow now. We will have to wait and see if eggs result. No eggs yet. 

They all seem happy and healthy. The consumption in the portable pen with the feral ducks has only increased about 50%, so they seem to not be affected by the light stimulating laying.( a good thing!)

[Cathy]

I was thinking about the increase in feed consumption, a few things come to mind.  Of course winter weather will increase their needs, but another thing that winter does is increase wild bird's need for food, too.  Is the pen they're in secure from wild birds and have you noticed an increase in wild bird activity?  Also, do you leave feed out overnight and could there be 'vermin' such as mice or rats getting to the feed?