I don't have any pics today, but I'll describe my setup. First of all, I recently moved and do not have power run underground to my coop yet, like I had at the previous location. So right now I've got a grounded extension cord running from a GFCI protected outlet. But the inside setup remains the same. The power first runs to a box with a duplex receptacle that is live all the time. Right now I've got a clamp light plugged into that so I can turn it on/off as needed when I go out to the coop. From that box, the power goes to another box that has an in box timer that I got from Home Depot. It actually has a lot of features like auto daylight saving time adjustment and preprogrammed dawn/dusk settings for your location. I chose to manually program it however. The program is 15 hours from morning to night(currently it is less because I just got it hooked up and am adjusting it gradually.) So for example, eventually the setting will be from 5:30 AM to 8:30 PM. But, my lights are not on all day because, the wiring next runs to another box which is turned to face the exterior of the coop and has a photocell. The photocell will only let power through in the absence of daylight, so my lights only run when needed(dark) saving me money and encouraging the chickens to go outside, saving on feed and keeping down mischief. In the peak of summer, my lights don't even come on.
I have one light inside the coop, and one two lamp fixture on the exterior. Currently I have exterior 23 watt(100 watt equivalent) cfl floodlight bulbs installed.
I do have a question about how quickly to increase artificial lighting day length in the coop. Somewhere I read only 15 minutes a week which is sooo slow, especially since I started in the dead of winter. I know I've increased it more rapidly before, but was wondering if that will stress the birds out. Anyone have any experience with that?
I have one light inside the coop, and one two lamp fixture on the exterior. Currently I have exterior 23 watt(100 watt equivalent) cfl floodlight bulbs installed.
I do have a question about how quickly to increase artificial lighting day length in the coop. Somewhere I read only 15 minutes a week which is sooo slow, especially since I started in the dead of winter. I know I've increased it more rapidly before, but was wondering if that will stress the birds out. Anyone have any experience with that?
