Fairy Lights Around Coop & Run

[Iluveggers]

We have a few strings of fairy lights around our garden & chicken run that we just put up. When I peeked in the coop to count chickens, it seemed bright (one of the strands runs right next to one of the windows.) I ended up turning them off tonight.

DH wants to leave the lights on 24/7 because the yard looks so pretty. Is there any way of doing this without messing with the chickens? Will it affect them at all? It gets dark here around 5 now.

Thanks so much.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I don't know how many lumens of light is OK but I'd be uncomfortable if it were very light in there. Chickens can sometimes develop behavioral problems if they don't get enough dark downtime. They can sometimes develop egg laying problems if they don't have dark downtime. These things don't always happen but they can.

Can you relocate that strand so it doesn't shine in as much? Can you put those lights on a timer so they do get several hours of dark downtime?

 

[Brooks_]

Maybe a strip of foil behind the problem section or remove those bulbs?

 

[Iluveggers]

Thank you. Just wanted some backup to my concern. Maybe we can get an auto-timer, that should do the trick!

 

[SandyRiverChick]

I'm not sure about your setup but I have several lights on at night. One super bright light behind my coop, string lights around the rest of it and solar lights on fence posts. My coop has alot of windows but they all have curtains that I shut at night and it's plenty dark with just a small amount of light in there. So can you just cover windows or am I missing it?

 

[Iluveggers]

I ended up moving the string below the window instead of above, and it isn’t lit up more than moonlight would light it now! I told DH what you guys said, and he is going to go out and shut the lights off every night anyway.

Thanks everyone. My gut was it wasn’t a good idea to leave it the way it was. Easier fix than I thought!