Lights
I’ve visited a few dreary barns in my day, where horses are kept in a very dark environment. One can walk by their stalls and if the horse is of a dark color you can’t even see them in there. I really like working areas to be well lit. If I have a medical problem with one of my horses and the vet has to come out at night I don’t want to have to Jimmy-rig some lighting. When I built my stalls I put lights in there. I’m not talking just a bulb or two; I’m talking baseball stadium night game kind of lighting.
Though my chicken coop has a window I somehow had a hard time seeing things in there as well; even in the day light hours. I like to see things like if they are wasting food, if there are rodent droppings, if there is anything weird, if any eggs are hidden and so on, so I finally got around to electrifying the chicken coop.
I buried a line from the greenhouse and I put in one receptacle and two ceramic bulb fixtures. When I was finished it was nearly dark. I put my tools away and I went to flip the breaker. I went back out to the coop where the hens were already returning due to the oncoming dark. I screwed in two bulbs and flipped the switch…Daylight. It made such a difference that I now may want to electrify my manure shed.
posted by The Guy Who Writes This at 4:00 AM
6 Comments:
But do you really spend that much time in the manure shed in the dark and why? Or is this one of those things I really don't want to know?
you crack me up.
you are using fluorescents...right?
now that's a horse of a different color.
Darev, it is way back and dark. I may run a spot light from the North side of the coop out in that direction.
Weese, No I'm burning two 150w standard bulbs. The reason is that it's cold out there and fluorescents give off crappy light until they warm up. I'm in and out of the coop within a minute.
g, actually they are the same color as they are in the daylight, but they close their eye lids to prevent from being blinded.
If your hens don't get enough light, they won't lay eggs (or at least not as many). Electric lights on a timer to give 14 hours of light is a good idea for a chicken coop.
Just be sure to keep the cords out of the way!
Beth, it is all hard wired and stapled to the joists. No cords at all.
I'm actually delighted you know about the 14 hour egg thing. I understand that is true. First year chickens seem to lay regardless of light. I do have a big window in their coop so there is a lot of natural light. These chickens haven't started laying yet and I expect them to start in late December. I'm almost not looking forward to 2 dozen eggs a day.
Post a Comment
<< Home