anyone run electric to their coop? How hard is it to do?

[thetajmahalcoop]

wow! awesome advice from everyone! i was (halfway) joking about the water and closed circuit TV. I was being lazy thinking about the water, the coop is right behind our house LOL. My DH will know what to buy based on all of your very informative posts! Thanks for all the responses!

 

[CARS]

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It's not lazy, having water right there makes life so easy. If you don't experience hard freezes all winter long, you could even set it up with auto-waterers!!!

And you HAVE to add a cable for future coop cameras... that's what other's are doing. You're not going to fall behind the Jone's are you???

I'm just saying, if you have to dig a trench, do it right the first time. Adding a hydrant to your coop is only going to be a couple feet deeper than doing the electrical.

 

[thetajmahalcoop]

LOL I had to laugh at your reply...we just recently got internet setup in our cabin so we are used to falling behind the joneses' LOL!!! I'll see what DH says, I'm sure he'll agree to the water but not the cable

 

[pkeeler]

I hate to bring it up, but check with your local building department. Where I live, a coop or shed doesn't need a building permit. But if you run electric to it, then it becomes another building. You would need a building permit, electrical permit, with all the inspections and maybe even a property tax assessment increase. So, I just run an extension cord. You could bury 2" PVC 6" under the ground and run the cord through there.

 

[thetajmahalcoop]

ooooohhh good point, DH will not agree to running out there now....guess we will keep going the extension cord route....

 

[La Mike]

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I had to have a permit and an additional meter installed because i ran electric
for heaters
I also have auto waterers and lights installed

LOL all i need now is one of them tv,s so my birds can watch discovery channel

 

[AtholCoop]

If you do go the conduit route, do yourself a favor and at the same time you are pulling in the wire, pull a "Pull String" through it as well. Never know when your needs might change and you may decide to run something else out there. A pull string makes this a no brainer.

 

[Guinea Goonie]

My "coop" which we call the "nursery" for it is a portable building has a 100 foot bumble bee extension cord to it.
I have a handy 8 plug thingy installed and this gives plug ins for all the needs.

I have run heaters, heat lamps, 6 fans, work lights, recharging bases, you name it, no problem.

I presently have a day/night switch that activates for a very cold night. right now all that is on it is a nighty light for the darlings and a water heater base.

I view all things I put in there as potentially a fire hazard and i install as properly as I can. so far, so good, knock wood.

 

[CARS]

I never thought about the permits. We have it pretty good here in Comfrey. When I doubled the size of my body shop I had to have a $50.00 city building permit and $10.00 per electrical circuit inspection fee. Across the county, in New Ulm it costs thousands in permits to build a house

I bet you are going to run into an issue. If you anchor the coop down, which you should, it is going to be another structure on your property. Especially if it has water, electricity, and cable t.v. with closed circuit t.v.!!!!

You may as well build a guest house for future re-sale value and just let the chickens stay there for awhile. It will clean right up

 

[La Mike]

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