Does anyone light their run?

[Sally PB]

My girls aren't laying, but that's ok. I don't plan to put lights in the coop. I want to put light in the run though, because... it's dark and gloomy there. I have heavy duty tarps for a roof, silver and black, with the silver side to the inside. I thought it would brighten the run up with all the reflected light from the snow. But so far, no snow. I don't have electric out there, so I bought a heavy duty exterior extension cord to run from the garage. Thinking ahead, I got one with three terminals, so a heated waterer could be in the future.

My plan was to turn on the light after I open up the pop door, and turn it off about sunset, or when they go into the coop. I'm not trying to extend the daylight, just make it a little brighter. I bought a string of white outdoor Christmas lights to put up at the peak of the run.

Speaking of Christmas, I bought some jingle bells, red, green, silver, and hung them up thinking the chickens would like to peck them. They totally avoid that corner now. Silly birds! Two weeks to Solstice!!!

 

[Fluffs_flock]

Haha! Great idea, I don't light the run, but they are always in the coop before I would need to.

 

[timthetoolman]

I set up two hardwired timers in my coop, one for the run and one inside the coop. The run lights come on early and shut off at sunrise and then on at dusk and off a couple hours later. Inside the lights are on for 12 hours. I use only LED bulbs in safety fixtures. In hindsight I should have set them up on smart switches and timed them with IFTT weather sunrise/sunset times so I don't have to keep fiddling with the settings as the daylight hours change.

 

[jreardon1918]

Yes we do. Old Christmas icicle lights. And they do serve as an early fake sunrise. If you are trying to improve light during the day, I would recommend turning them off prior to sundown. I think the girls will go in on their own. This picture was taken around sunrise.

 

[humblehillsfarm]

You'd probably have to turn off the light before they are *supposed* to go into the coop. Their internal clock operates on darkness, so if you leave the light on, they will probably stay out and party.

 

[Trisseh]

A timer would definitely be your friend. I have solar powered motion lights in my runs but they’re open on the roof. I have Christmas lights in the quail pen on a timer though, and it works very well.

 

[Sally PB]

turning them off prior to sundown

Yep, I plan to do that. When we moved the coop up next to the garage, we didn't realize how dim the light would be in the run. As we were moving some of the run "furniture" in, my hubby looked at me and said, "It's kinda dark in here." But by then we had moved everything and set it up. Maybe when there's snow on the ground, it'll be brighter.

I am thinking about a timer. I have one... somewhere...

 

[jreardon1918]

Yep, I plan to do that. When we moved the coop up next to the garage, we didn't realize how dim the light would be in the run. As we were moving some of the run "furniture" in, my hubby looked at me and said, "It's kinda dark in here." But by then we had moved everything and set it up. Maybe when there's snow on the ground, it'll be brighter.

I am thinking about a timer. I have one... somewhere...

If you happen to have joined the smart home craze, the plugs work well. That is what we are using to automate the lights in the morning. Every day I am setting the timer to come on 5 minutes earlier.

In your case a smart plug can be timed to turn on at sunrise and off at sunset. Mine also allows for offsets of up to one hour.

 

[Sally PB]

If you happen to have joined the smart home craze

Nope. In fact, my timer is sooo old fashioned, it just has physical button pegs that you push down to trip the on/off.

 

[jreardon1918]

Nope. In fact, my timer is sooo old fashioned, it just has physical button pegs that you push down to trip the on/off.

That will work just fine.