adding a light/ comes on at 4:30am/ok if it's outside the coop? (pic)

[djackjr]

still trying to figure out the $30 a month for a heat lamp?? My bill did not go up one cent.....

 

[backdoorchicken]

my heat bulb is a low watt heat bulb and my coop is rather small. plus a thermostat will cut down on over usage.

we ran a higher wattage heat lamp non stop when they were chicks and i hardly noticed a difference.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Quote:
60 watt lamp @ 8 hrs a day @ $0.10 per KWH runs less than $1.50 a month.

60 * 8 / 1000 * 30 * .10 = $1.44

They also sell compact fluorescents floodlights that will replace that incandescent lamp and it would cost less than half that for the same amount of light.

I run 16 CF bulbs, 16 hours a day, in a 5000 sq ft layer barn. It is fairly well lit and keeps 2500 birds laying for about $15 a month. They lay $8,000 a month in organic eggs so I think it covers the power bill.

 

[RedStarDaddy]

Quote:
A 250 Watt heat lamp uses 6 kW-h a day if you run it all 24 hours. If you pay $0.16 per kW-h that is a buck a day -- thirty bucks a month.

RSD

 

[djackjr]

well i ran it 24 hrs for 4 weeks and nada... maybe I had other stuff off that offset it....
Also I am comparing against last years bill during the same period...

 

[SandyK]

I went back and found the article that I was referring to here on the board. Still good to know that some haven't noticed a huge rise in their electric bill, especially for those in really cold parts of the country.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=1642-winter-coop-temperatures

The Cold Coop:

what to do (and not do!) about it

What about electrical heating devices?

I will be honest and tell you that I think the majority of people who run heat lamps for their chickens don't need to be doing it and probably shouldn't. A single, actual heat lamp (250 w) will cost you something like $30+ per month on your electric bill, and sometimes they cause fires. And if you live somewhere that an ice storm may knock your service out for days, chickens used to a very warm coop could find themselves in real trouble.



That said, sometimes you DO need something on top of what you can finagle out of Mother Nature. The safest and simplest thing is to run a regular ol' lightbulb, like 40 or 60 or 100w. Nearly all that wattage goes into heat production, same as a heatlamp, yet they do not cost as much to run, and because they do not get so very hot, the fire risk is less. Try one of those first and see if it suffices. In combination with a hover or partition it may well be all you need.



If you do run a heat lamp, be very careful. Attach it at two separate points, to two separate points on the coop structure, so that if one fails the other will catch it before it hits the bedding and starts a fire. Never hang a lamp just by a clamp or just by its cord. A 250w lamp should be kept at least 18" from combustible materials -- that includes walls and bedding. And use a guard to reduce the chance of chickens getting burns on their combs, which may sound unlikely but really does happen.



Fires are another thing that really do happen, and realistically it is unlikely that your chickens would survive even a small coop fire. Make very sure that your wiring is sufficient to the electrical load; that all electrical connections are tight and correct; don't use extension cords if at all avoidable, as they and their plug connections can overheat and cause fires; and it is not a bad idea to have a fire extinguisher just inside the coop door, or in a nearby outbuilding, just in case. I am not trying to scare people, and obviously MOST coops will never experience a fire, but you do want to take all avaiable precautions, because those coop fires do happen to somebody and you don't want it to be you.

 

[mdbokc]

16 cents a KwH ! Holy Smokes. I thought 10-11 cents was high.

 

[RedStarDaddy]

I personally am nowhere near 16 cents. I am a lot closer to eight.

RSD

 

[captainmoose]

A 40 watt bulb inside the coop is all you need for increased light for egg production, 14hrs of light a day. I would not recommend a heat lamp inside the coop, the chickens will stay warm, I have 12 hens in a 10X12 coop the walls are 10ft high on one side and 8 ft on the other. The walls are insulated the roof is tin and not insulated. In the winter when it is 0 outside the coop is still warm, the girls give off a lot of heat.