Fires caused by improperly installed lights in coop

[patandchickens]

Those without electricity in the coop who only need lights for doing chores after dark (not for extending laying).... remember the simplest and cheapest thing is a good headlamp! Keep it in your coat pocket, or hung on a nail just inside the coop door where you can find it in the dark. I *think* they make hand-crank ones now, even, if you don't want to deal with batteries (although my experience is that the LED headlamps' batteries will last an extremely long time, big fan here).

Pop it on your head, and you have hands-free light anywhere you want, even up a hen's backside or under the roost, places a solar shed light is often not so helpful.


Pat

 

[waynesgarden]

Your thread might more properly be titled "Fires caused by improperly installed lights in coop."

I use a 40 watt CFL in my small coop (to lengthen their day) in a fixture hung securely from the rafters. It can not fall into bedding and even raising or lowering it requires hand tools.

I've seen drop lights in coops hanging by the electric cord draped over a nail in the rafter. I suggest to the owners that it might be easier and cheaper just to throw a match in the bedding than to keep feeding the birds until the day the cord slips.

By the way, where do you live that requires heat in a coop? Never heated mine in the Northern Adirondacks or here in Maine. Just buttened them up tight on the nights that goes down to 30 or 40 below then opened the vent when the sun came up.

Wayne

 

[chickenwhisperer123]

I put in rope lighting last year, just stapled it zigzaged across the rafter things. Best addition I have ever made!!!

NO heat.

 

[canada-goose]

I don't use lights. Chickens tend to be great in cold weather.

 

[Tecalli]

By the time I get home its too dark for cleaning and I also wanted light in the coop, for cleaning and not heat. But for lighting I needed electricity to the coop. Called one electrician who stood me up. Called another who also stood me up. Called a third who said the job was too small to be worth his time. I then went to Lowes and got these LED stick on lights. You press them and they turn on and you press them and they turn off. Cheap, easy, and safe.

 

[rosco]

Quote:
Does the rope light provide enough light to stimulate egg production? this is an insanely awesome idea for those who are paranoid of fire.

patandchickens, i will look at your post. thank you.

the coop is a metal shed. i'm wondering if i should spray insulation on the metal.

Thank You for all the Great Tips! a 40-60W bulb in a secured lamp should work to stimulate egg production. It seems no longer necessary to provide heat for these birds. Simply allowing for their heat to be retained is necessary.

rosco

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
As long as you can read a newspaper without excessive squinting, when the newspaper is held at 'chicken level', it is enough brightness to count as daylight from a laying standpoint.

the coop is a metal shed. i'm wondering if i should spray insulation on the metal.

If you live somewhere that gets down to freezing or below, then you really ought to insulate (in the north, you will HAVE to insulate or you will have major humidity problems all winter, and quite likely frostbite). I would not suggest spray foam however -- a) it will cost too much to do the whole shed (remember the CEILING is the most important part) and b) since you have to cover it with something peckproof anyhow (most people use thin plywood) to prevent chickens from eating it, you may as well incorporate that into the installation, use fiberglass batts or rigid foamboard behind the plywood. You can use glue to stick foamboard up if you do not want to be messin' with the structure of the shed, but make sure you use a glue that is ok for the foam and will not dissolve it.

a 40-60W bulb in a secured lamp should work to stimulate egg production.

Actually in a typical size shed, like 8x8 or so, that is probably more than you will need -- a 25 watt bulb might well be quite adequate, 40 *for sure* will. Use the newspaper test

Good luck, have fun,

Pat​

 

[bibliophile birds]

Quote:
since you mentioned hay above- hay is a good insulator. it should work just fine in Texas. and it should save you some money, since you seem to have it around anyway.

there are several options for using it. the most straightforward is to line your walls with bales of hay, basically making the inside of the shed mostly hay. any air that manages to seep through your shed walls will then get filtered through the hay which will warm it up enough to take the chill off. biggest problem: if the chickens can get to it, they will try to eat/play in it. you can always put the hay bales on the outside of the shed, instead. cover them with tarps if you need the hay to be usable later (although this isn't a guarantee at all).

for a more permanent solution, you can also build hay into the walls if you have enough that you won't need to use it for feeding. you start building your interior walls up from the floor in about 3 ft high increments, stuffing hay (not really tight but no huge gaps) as you go. if there are any holes, critters and water will eventually make their way in, so you may need to take the walls down and refill with hay every few years.

good luck!

 

[bibliophile birds]

what about heavy curtains? creating an airpocket is a good temporary insulator, so maybe heavy curtains would be enough in Texas. you would probably want to put some weights in the bottom seam to keep them as still as possible, but it shouldn't be very hard, or cost you nearly as much as insulation.

i just thought about this, so it's not something i've tried or researched- maybe someone else has info they could share?

 

[Chickn chick 46]

I use a battery operated LCD light in my coop for a few hours after sunset. I don't want to push their systems too much, just enough to get a few eggs during the darkest hours of winter.