Spectrum: red and blue, not white
Broilers respond to peak wavelengths, not to a high CRI. Red light near 660 nm lifts plasma androgen levels and supports weight gain; blue light around 450–480 nm activates muscle growth and keeps birds calm. A switchable red↔white program lets one fixture cover brooding (more red/white for visibility) and grow-out (more red for gain) without rewiring the house.
Lux and photoperiod schedule
Brooders need to find feed and water, so hold 20–40 lux for the first week, then step down to 5–15 lux through grow-out. Photoperiod starts at 23 h/day and shortens about 1–2 h per week to 18–20 h/day. The dark window improves feed conversion ratio — field programs report 2–4% better FCR — but the transition must be a slow dawn/dusk fade, never a hard switch that spikes stress.
Mounting height and spacing
Fix tubes at 2.4–3.0 m above the litter, with spacing set so beam overlap keeps the floor even. Measure a lux map before locking the layout: peaks above 50 lux or dips below 5 lux both widen slaughter-weight variation. Aim for uniformity (min÷max) above 0.7 across the usable floor.
Dimming and flicker control
Chickens sense flicker well above the human threshold, and flicker is their largest stress trigger — it drives feather pecking and cannonballism. Specify 0.1% smooth, non-PWM dimming so the ramp from dark to full is invisible to the flock. A controller running automatic sunrise/sunset curves removes the manual error that causes step changes.
Washdown and build
Between-flock cleaning uses pressure washers, so fixtures need IP69K to survive high-pressure, high-temperature spray. The enclosure must also resist ammonia: an anti-ammonia seal and corrosion-rated driver hold up under NH3 exposure that destroys standard tubes within a few cycles. See the full IWAY Poultry Lighting range and the IP69K washdown specs.
Zoning and control
Split the house into independently dimmed zones so the brooding area can run brighter while grow-out zones stay dim — one controller, separate curves per zone. That single change often pays back faster than chasing a higher lumen figure, because it matches light to bird age instead of the whole house at once.