Coop Lighting & Venting

[lnm03]

Can you use Florescent lighting in a coop? Also, how do you vent a coop with out it being drafty?

 

[Colored Egg Farmer]

yes you can use Florescent Lights. Some say the little flashing they do can cause problems but I have all florescent lamps and they are perfectly fine. For the drafts you just make openings big enough to let air in out. It really depends on the size of your coop and number of chickens.

 

[lnm03]

Quote:
Our coop is actually a box off a box truck that some one gave us. It is 16' x 8'. I have 40 chickens. They are still babies but I will be putting them out in about 8 weeks when we have feathers!

 

[lnm03]

We are redoing the floor and putting plywood down. It already has electricity ran to it and the florescent lighting because they used it as an extension to their garage. We are also putting OSB board on the walls. Just trying to figure out how to vent it properly.

 

[Colored Egg Farmer]

Here is alot of Venting info a member put together. https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=1642-VENTILATION

 

[patandchickens]

Some people worry about the micro-fast flickering of fluorescents, some don't. I do not know what chickens themselves think of it.

I would offer one caution (and one small comment) about fluorescents, though. Although the bulbs do not get very hot, the ballast often does, especially if it is an older or cheap unit. The small cheap ones meant to be used as under-the-counter lighting are particularly bad, IME, for suddenly bursting into flame or at least getting a good smoky smolder going. I know of one fire and two near-fires caused by them... and I don't know of THAT many instances of their use so it's not just a matter of large sample size. I also know of two barn fires caused by fluorescent ballasts overheating. Not sayin' don't use fluorescents (I have them in my coop and barn, actually, although only b/c they were there when we bought the place), just saying, be aware.

Also, I don't know what part of indiana you are in, but if you are in the more northerly parts, be aware that regular ol' household or workshop fluorescents perform poorly once the temperature gets below, what, maybe 10-15 F. They will struggle to turn on at all, and remain dim. To avoid that you would need to buy one with a specially labelled cold-weather ballast.

Ventilation without drafts means, you want to be in control of where air is coming in (not seeping thru gaps here and there) and it needs to be NOT blowin' right at the chickens. Usually vents high on the walls, not right next to or above the roost, work well; you may have to close down the upwind ones on a windy day.

Have fun,

Pat

 

[hinky toes]

Fluorescent lights are great for saving energy, but there are two problems if you live in a cold climate:

1) fluorescent tubes do not work well below 50 deg. F

2) Incandescent lights are a great source of "heat" for a coop. Besides, if you have hens, they typically need about 14 hrs. of light to be encouraged to lay...hard to come by naturally in the winter.

Regarding venting - again it is sort of a challenge in colder climes...fresh air vs. warmth. My coop is shoddy enough, yet fairly insulated where I'm not overly concerned about moving air. In the summer I have the coop windows open to let the air thru....my two cents.

 

[LittleChickenRacingTeam]

Quote:
Canada is banning the sale of incandescent lightbulbs by 2012. Australia will no longer sell them by 2010.

The heat produced that you mention is just a waste of electricity. I'm sure the USA will follow the green path as well & stop production & sale of these dinosaur bulbs.

Compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs), use about 75 per cent less electricity than older incandescent bulbs. An average house would save about $60 per year by switching to CFL's.

 

[hinky toes]

Hey little chicken - living in Canada, do you use some kind of heat source to keep the coop "warmish"? I'm open to other ideas.

sorry about the side track question...I don't mean to derail the post.

by the way, CFL's don't perform well in cold weather. I've tried them.

 

[cmom]

We re-did the vents in the soffits on our house with 4" round screen. I had some left over so I cut holes in the coop and put the vents in. They work great.