Dark coop, light suggestions

[SouthDakotaLiving]

Lumens is how much light is emitted from the bulb while watts is how much power it uses. Ceiling height will definitely determine what is best. How high are your ceilings?

For example, you can have two different bulbs both are 75 watts. One is 800 lumens while the other is 1100 lumens. The bulb that is 75 watts and 1100 lumens will be much brighter than the other bulb even though it is also 75 watts.

My ceiling is slanted, so where the hook is would be 5.5-6 feet. Many of the garage lights assume a high ceiling.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

My ceiling is slanted, so where the hook is would be 5.5-6 feet. Many of the garage lights assume a high ceiling.

Ahh yes then you don’t want something too high lumens. I was thinking higher ceilings. Do you know how many lumens the bulb is you currently have in your light? Or a picture of the package? Depending on the bulb you are currently using you may be able to try a higher lumen 75 watt bulb before having to install a whole new light.

 

[SouthDakotaLiving]

Ahh yes then you don’t want something too high lumens. I was thinking higher ceilings. Do you know how many lumens the bulb is you currently have in your light? Or a picture of the package? Depending on the bulb you are currently using you may be able to try a higher lumen 75 watt bulb before having to install a whole new light.

I no longer have the package but will go see what the bulb says. This is so helpful. It appears to be 600 lumens. (It also says 120 VAC, 60 Hz, 70mA, 8W, 5000K).

I believe the light I have will take incandescent as well, though I thought LED might be safer with the straw. (I cannot imagine how the light could actually fall, though, as it is secured in two places). The light says not to go above 75 watts.

Might this one work? It says it's 75 watt equivalent and 1l00 lumens. https://www.amazon.com/Luxrite-Equivalent-Dimmable-Standard-Enclosed/dp/B09JX24MX4/ref=sr_1_4_sspa?crid=3SFUV4XFZXNYB&keywords=75+watt+LED+light+bulb+700+lumens&qid=1678802533&sprefix=75+watt+led+light+bulb+700+lumens,aps,130&sr=8-4-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEzMDI4ODE5TjBPVUs4JmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwNzU0MDA1MzlGQk9TQTNTOU8xQiZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwNTM0NDY2S1U1SkE3WkE0NTRFJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfYXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

 

[jreardon1918]

By any chance do you have wireless that can reach your coop? I use "smart" plugs to do timers for our lights in the run and this picture lights a Christmas tree near our garden.

 

[SouthDakotaLiving]

I no longer have the package but will go see what the bulb says. This is so helpful.

By any chance do you have wireless that can reach your coop? I use "smart" plugs to do timers for our lights in the run and this picture lights a Christmas tree near our garden.

It's all low-tech and internet doesn't reach out that far. Thank you; it looks like simply getting a higher lumen 75 watt will do the trick.

 

[jreardon1918]

It's all low-tech and internet doesn't reach out that far. Thank you; it looks like simply getting a higher lumen 75 watt will do the trick.

I just did a quick search and see that there are low tech timers if you decide a timer would be helpful. But if you are doing morning and evening trips to the coop, just truning on/off is a nice solution.

 

[avjudge]

I believe the light I have will take incandescent as well, though I thought LED might be safer with the straw.

I can’t imagine why you would want to use an incandescent bulb for lighting these days. LED gives all the light you can want for a fraction of the electricity. An incandescent bulb gives off the rest as heat. (I actually found a 60 W incandescent, mounted low, is plenty warm for brooding a small number of chicks, and I am squirreling away my remaining ones for this purpose as I replace them with LEDs.)

If your fixture says it takes 75W, that’s an old label aimed at incandescent bulbs. You could easily and safely use 100W-equivalent LED in the fixture - it should be less than 20 W - or one of the smaller screw-in garage lights if it will fit (i.e. the cage is removable).

I use 2 LED under-cabinet lights on the ceiling of my coop which is only 6‘ tall, 3’ wide by 11.5’ long. The lights’ low profile means they are out of the way of my head, and the long narrow shape (they are mounted end to end) gives even light along the coop. They each have a high and low setting, 5.5W and 11W. I have one on the low setting plugged into a timer, coming on in the morning to wake them up so I got winter eggs, but if I want good light in there, even after dark, I turn both on high and have no complaints. They just plug in, are not hardwired, so I lead their cord out of the coop (which is in my barn) to a convenient outlet. Hardwired is optimal but this looks perfectly safe to me (and unlike hardwired fixtures allows easy use of the timer).

Edit: oops, didn’t see that this thread is a couple weeks old – I thought I got here from the “new posts” list but apparently it was linked at the bottom of another thread I was reading. Oh well, at least it’s not years old!

 

[BeefQuesoritto]

Don't apologize. It's still good information. I'm trying to decide how to light up my coop, and was thinking LED's for sure. I don't want to use windows because I feel like they'd let the heat in, and that's not always a positive.

I've seen in other threads that having something like a fan is a fire risk because of the dust in coops. Is this something I ought to worry about out here?

 

[avjudge]

. . .
I've seen in other threads that having something like a fan is a fire risk because of the dust in coops. Is this something I ought to worry about out here?

I am not up on fans for chicken coops, but I have again and again read that the only safe fans for use in barns/stalls for horses are the sealed motor fans. They are designed for dusty environments and therefore greatly reduce the very real risk of fire that you have with a standard household fan. Of course they are correspondingly expensive.

 

[BeefQuesoritto]

I don't really need a fan. I've got more than enough wind... I was just curious if light fixtures had this same issue as being a fire risk, or if that's just for fans because of the motor.