How do you light your coop at night?

[Jae]

I'm in cold northern area. Lots of snow.
I'm being told not to use heat lamps or anything A for fire risk and B in case our weather causes a power outage which will shock and kill them.

Can I run lights out there though? If power cords are a no no then what do I do to keep their water from freezing?

 

[CapricornFarm]

Yes, you can run power cords. Better to get a quality long one than a lot of short ones. Just a regular light bulb is fine for light. I made a water warmer from a feed pan with a 60 watt bulb inside. Works great.

 

[jthornton]

I ran a cord out to my coop and have LED lights.

In the winter I use a 250 watt submersible heater in my vertical nipple bucket. So long as the nipples are insulated and only the metal part sticks out tested good down to 0°F.



JT

 

[aart]

I also ran a heavy duty outdoor rated extension cord, plugged into a GFCI outlet, out to coop. It runs the water heater, light with timer for winter laying, and the brooder heat plate in spring. I wear a headlight if I have to check things after dark.

 

[kwhites634]

I'm in cold northern area. Lots of snow.
I'm being told not to use heat lamps or anything A for fire risk and B in case our weather causes a power outage which will shock and kill them.

Can I run lights out there though? If power cords are a no no then what do I do to keep their water from freezing?

I have two rubber pans for winter. While one's in the run, the other's thawing in front of the woodstove.

 

[PirateGirl]

I'm not sure if you want the light for the birds for laying purposes, or the light for you to be able to check on things after dark. I have a solar powered motion sensored LED light on the outside of the coop. When I walk out there after dark to take care of things it automatically comes on and I can see what I'm doing. I hang it on a screw and can easily take it down and use it like a flashlight if I need to see something that the beam does not reach. No electric needed.

Last winter I ran an extension cord to a heated dog bowl for thawed water. The bowl burned out before winter was done. I switched to rubber buckets and just filled them in the morning and again after work. It seemed to be sufficient and I no longer needed electric. When its that cold I like to check on everyone at least twice a day anyway. I had to be sure to dump the water overnight or bring the buckets in the house so they wouldn't be a block of ice in the morning. It's winter here most of the year. It snowed just this past weekend. I'm not sure if I will try to heat the water differently next year or just continue to change it out twice a day.

There are a lot of good articles on waterers for your flock here.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/category/feeders-waterers.26/

 

[pennyJo1960]

Night time they do not need heat or light they sleep at night as we do their rest time only peeps need warmth I like the summer to grow up peeps so we do not need heat but use a heating pad not light bulbs and if i need to have aquarium heaters in my 5 gallon water
buckets but use horizontal nipples

 

[FnWeirdo]

I have two rubber pans for winter. While one's in the run, the other's thawing in front of the woodstove.

i use the rubber pans as well. although i have multiple i only switch them up when 1 needs to be cleaned. i find if it freezes a good amount through i can just flip it upside down step on the top and the ice dislodges.

i dont mind the multiple stops a day as i am already checking for eggs and observing the birds. and i dont need to run a power cord.

 

[Jrasche]

Not my picture, but this is what I am using for a water heater. It was 7 Fahrenheit this morning and my water was still wet.