We all know that large-scale farms use poultry farming equipment to raise laying hens and broilers. The photoperiod refers to the provision of lighting in the chicken house for a certain period of time to allow the chickens to eat, drink and move. This period is the bright period (L); then turn off the lights or completely darken the house to make the house dark and allow the chickens to rest State, this period of time is the dark period (D). The bright and dark periods appear alternately, which can constitute different light cycles.

1. Natural light cycle and unnatural light cycle. If a 24-hour light cycle is implemented in the chicken house, which is the same as the day and night time, it is called a natural light cycle; if the chicken house implements a light cycle longer or shorter than 24h, then Known as the unnatural light cycle, this light cycle can only be carried out under fully artificial lighting conditions.

2. Continuous illumination and intermittent illumination. If there is only one bright period and one dark period in a light cycle, it is called continuous light cycle, such as 16L:8D or 8L:16D, this light cycle is called continuous light for short; if it is in one light cycle There are two or more light and dark periods, which are called intermittent lighting cycles, such as 8L:5D:4L: 7D, and 1L:2D or 2L:2D light and dark cycle lighting, which are all called intermittent lighting methods.

3. Light time The light time of the chicken is calculated in hours or minutes. The sum of the light in the bright period in a light cycle is the light time. In the actual calculation of the chicken flock's light time, because the natural light cycle is mostly used, it can be expressed by the sum of the natural light and artificial light given to the chickens continuously or intermittently throughout the day and night. Due to the continuous changes in the number of hours of sunshine during the year, the chicken farms should formulate the lighting system according to the actual situation when formulating the lighting system. In addition, the light time is affected by the morning light and the afterglow at dusk. In order to make the light management more accurate, the actual light time should be added 30min according to the sunshine time.