Electrical outlets/Lights for new coop

[rolffamily]

In hindsight, I wish I would have put an outlet on a light switch so that I could turn a heat lamp on and off while standing near the door instead of walking in and pulling the plug.

 

[My6Chicks]

Quote:
Hard wired means that the electricity is always present at an outlet and there is no switch to turn it off. Running an outlet through a switch gives you some flexibility in turning on or off the device that is plugged into the outlet.

Does this help?

 

[woodmort]

I have the outlets at head height, that way any cord coming from them is hanging down which prevents moisture from running into the outlet. Also I used exterior outlets that have individual covers--it gets dusty in the coop and this keeps dirt out of unused ones.

 

[leahthor]

I have 2 light outlets in my coop and 1 electrical outlet. All are on the ceiling so I don't have to worry about cords hanging down or the chickens getting dangerously curious about them. The electrical outlet is high enough (7 feet) that I can plug in a space heater if needed in the winter or a fan in the summer. I have a shelf with a cage around it for extra protection. With my lights I have a regular white light bulb in one and a red heat lamp on the other. The white light bulb has a pull cord so I can shut that off at night but still leave the heat lamp on. Considering I live in Northern Alberta and we can get -40 degree weather I wanted that option.

 

[zekii]

How much power do water heaters need...? Also heat lamps...?

We are going to run a 20A GFI circuit from the barn panel to the Chicken coop thru underground conduit. Just want to make sure we'll have enough amperage to run the water heater in the winter, and possibly a heating element...light etc.
Fan in the summer.

Ok on the pop door..

Going to post some pictures of the coop...still in the framing stages.... where is a good place to post these on this site...?

 

[akepnerjr]

As an electrician I would advise you to use safety type recepticle so they can't their beeks in them or any food particles just a little more for cost but safety first then price and be sure to make the circuit GFCI protected

 

[akepnerjr]

One 20 amp GFCI circuit should be good enough lights don't pull alot and the heater should be pretty small too check the heatrer when you get it and see what it says for power draw proubly less then 2 amps

 

[Judy]

We have our outlets in the ceiling, upside down, which helps keep them dust free. Glad we did it that way. All wires inside the coop are covered (pvc pipe, etc.) so the chickens cannot peck them. Switches are also in the ceiling, a little inconvenient perhaps, but safer I feel.

 

[SandyK]

Zekii,

You can click on the My Page link at the top and upload your pictures there. It will be a permanent place to keep your pictures and story.
Very easy, with instructions and video to help you.

 

[zekii]

Quote:
Yes...we were thinking either covers for the recepticles, but the safty recepticles would probably work well also, our electrician just installed some of these in our new porch...sometimes you have to push pretty hard to get the little doors to open on the recepticle !!!