On August 21, 2017, countless chickens on earth will experience a total eclipse of the sun for the first and only time in their lives. The period of time during which the moon will cover the sun to varying degrees depends on where they live, but the “path of totality,” or the complete lights-out when the moon totally blocks the sun from the earth, will last only about 2 minutes and 40 seconds. What does that mean for your backyard chickens? Should you take any special precautions, worry about their behavior, be concerned about their their vision or fear a drop in egg-production? The short answer to each is: no, so relax and enjoy the celestial show!

VISION

The electromagnetic radiation from the eclipse will not cause blindness in your chickens. While it’s true that retinal damage could occur to chickens who look at the sun directly at any time other than during the sun’s complete eclipse by the moon, chickens are not in the habit of staring at the sun and there is no reason to believe they will begin gazing uncomfortably into the sun during a solar eclipse.

BEHAVIOR

You don’t need to worry about your chickens being outside the coop during the solar eclipse. Chickens have poor night vision, which is why they begin to head into the coop to find a safe roosting spot as dusk approaches nightly. As the moon begins to darken the skies during the solar eclipse, your backyard chickens will respond as they would to any other darkening of the skies by heading into the coop. When the eclipse wanes, they’ll likely meander back out for the remainder of the day. The eclipse won’t have any more impact on the flock than the average summer thunderstorm that rolls in with black clouds and rolls out just before dinnertime.

EGG PRODUCTION

We know that day length triggers egg production and decreasing day length negatively impacts it, so are we concerned that the solar eclipse will take a toll on the daily egg tally? Nope! According to poultry veterinarian Dr. Annika McKillop, “The birds will keep laying- there isn’t a large enough change in day length to make them stop laying eggs. If anything, the birds may start to go to roost at night as it gets darker near the time of the eclipse. They will come back outside again after the eclipse occurs as it gets light again.”

Interested in knowing how chickens ACTUALLY behaved during the solar eclipse? Visit my Facebook page at this link to hear from chicken keepers around the country!

Kathy Shea Mormino

Affectionately known internationally as The Chicken Chick®, Kathy Shea Mormino shares a fun-loving, informative style to raising backyard chickens. …Read on

shop my SPONSORS

On August 21, 2017, countless chickens on earth will experience a total eclipse of the sun for the first and only time in their lives. The period of time during which the moon will cover the sun to varying degrees depends on where they live, but the “path of totality,” or the complete lights-out when the moon totally blocks the sun from the earth, will last only about 2 minutes and 40 seconds. What does that mean for your backyard chickens? Should you take any special precautions, worry about their behavior, be concerned about their their vision or fear a drop in egg-production? The short answer to each is: no, so relax and enjoy the celestial show!

VISION

The electromagnetic radiation from the eclipse will not cause blindness in your chickens. While it’s true that retinal damage could occur to chickens who look at the sun directly at any time other than during the sun’s complete eclipse by the moon, chickens are not in the habit of staring at the sun and there is no reason to believe they will begin gazing uncomfortably into the sun during a solar eclipse.

BEHAVIOR

You don’t need to worry about your chickens being outside the coop during the solar eclipse. Chickens have poor night vision, which is why they begin to head into the coop to find a safe roosting spot as dusk approaches nightly. As the moon begins to darken the skies during the solar eclipse, your backyard chickens will respond as they would to any other darkening of the skies by heading into the coop. When the eclipse wanes, they’ll likely meander back out for the remainder of the day. The eclipse won’t have any more impact on the flock than the average summer thunderstorm that rolls in with black clouds and rolls out just before dinnertime.

EGG PRODUCTION

We know that day length triggers egg production and decreasing day length negatively impacts it, so are we concerned that the solar eclipse will take a toll on the daily egg tally? Nope! According to poultry veterinarian Dr. Annika McKillop, “The birds will keep laying- there isn’t a large enough change in day length to make them stop laying eggs. If anything, the birds may start to go to roost at night as it gets darker near the time of the eclipse. They will come back outside again after the eclipse occurs as it gets light again.”

Interested in knowing how chickens ACTUALLY behaved during the solar eclipse? Visit my Facebook page at this link to hear from chicken keepers around the country!

Subscribe
Notify of
guest
711 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Maureen
Maureen
2024 years ago

Thanks for writing this timely article, as there has been a
lot of ‘noise’ out there about this, most of which didn’t make any sense to me.
Your advice, as usual, does.

And, by the way, I LOVE the Brinsea products. Very high
quality. This chick brooder would go very well with our Brinsea incubator.
Would love to win it.

Jennifer Rhodes
Jennifer Rhodes
2024 years ago

Great info. Thanks.

Jeanette
Jeanette
2024 years ago

Would like to win the Eco Glo brooder, sounds like it is so much better than the light bulbs!

Diane Gale
Diane Gale
2024 years ago

Been wanting to try this brooder heater – keep blowing light bulbs with the heat lamps.

Chrissy
Chrissy
2024 years ago

I’m really enjoying your blog! I’ve learned a lot from it & look forward to continue reading it! Thank you for sharing your information with all of us!