light in coop

[Sioux7]

If you put a light in the coop, where is the best place to put it. My husband put the light in the 'house' which is in the coop... so to speak. I'm thinking it should have been put in the coop. The food and water are in the coop/run area. Some one mentioned putting the light 'over the food source.' So what's best?

 

[chfite]

"My husband put the light in the 'house' which is in the coop... so to speak. I'm thinking it should have been put in the coop."

From your post, it appears that the light is in the coop where you wanted it, so to speak. Apparently there is some difference in your definition of the coop from sentence to sentence. My coop is a large container where the chickens live that is separate from the run, a large open outdoor area. If I put a light in my coop, it would be in the coop.

Someone may be able to help you, if you clarify what you mean.

Chris

 

[Sioux7]

My coop is composed of 4 walls and a roof. The walls are hard wear cloth. Inside the coop is a A-frame house that is three feet off the ground. The house is @ 3 x 6' x3' at the peek. There's a ladder that goes from the bottom of the coop into the bottom of the A-frame house. Inside that house are two nesting boxes. These boxes can be accessed out side the coop. Also inside the house, away from the nesting boxes is a roosting limb that spans the 3'width of the house. The light was added to this part. We were hoping that they would start roosting here now that it's getting cool. The light is on a timer to create additional morning light.

While the 4 chicks climb the ladder each day to lay their egg, they have preferred to roost on a roost that spans one corner of the coop. This has been fine for summer, but we are getting temps in the 20's now.

During most afternoons, the gals have 'free range' inside my 30x30 fenced vegetable garden which the coop is a part of. During the
the gardening year, I use a series of protective plastic fencing methods to keep the chicks from bothering the vegetable. So far, so good.
Hope this makes things clearer. It was kind of hard to describe simply.


r

 

[Choco Maran]

light should be where ever the chickens roost and /or lay so they have the extra light to help give them 12 hours of light a day.

 

[Den in Penn]

The purpose of lighting the chickens is to extend their day. Since the roof of your chicken house is opaque the light outside of that will not wake up the chickens to make their day longer. If you have their food and water outside of the house, having a light there as well so they can see to eat and drink, may not be a bad idea.
On this forum a small house like yours is usually called a coop, with the wire structure around it is called a run. In a warmer climate some chicken housing is just the wire walls and a roof with nest boxes and roosts, that is their house or coop. Growing up on the farm we never used the term coop. It was a chicken house. Probably because they were large walk in structures.

 

[Sioux7]

Yes, not unlike our goat barn where 8 pygmies, a donkey and newly, added Australorpe named Ida has recently joined the group. She has claimed the rarely used birthing room but likes the goats quarters as well. Ida was starting to be mistreated by the other four in the coop, so she has really seemed to like the new digs. I feel like she's pretty safe inside five lines of electricity and Leo, who has a good safety record.

 

[Sioux7]

Should I worry about their not getting inside their house when it gets cold? I know they are pretty hardy, but they have an inside roost. You would think they would use it if it gets in the mid 20's.

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

Should I worry about their not getting inside their house when it gets cold? I know they are pretty hardy, but they have an inside roost. You would think they would use it if it gets in the mid 20's.

They'll go in when they want to. Ours are pastured, and they stay in when it rains and when it snows. Here in Central Ohio, there are many days in the winter when it's below zero and windy, but no snow on the ground. The chickens will all be outside on those days, but all huddle inside when it's 36 degrees and snow coming down.

Chickens have pretty good instincts. They'll be OK.

Also, you want to light your coop only in the morning, and figure out your day length and have a 14 hour day. Light in the morning is MUCH more effective than light at night. So at our house, the lights come on at 4am and go off at 8am. The light is a 100 watt bulb (but our hen house is MUCH larger than yours--10' x 14' with huge windows) and it's placed over the roost.

 

[Sioux7]

Thanks for your correspondance. My light is inside the hen house, set to come on early, so as to extend the morning and set to go off around eight. But, the silly things wont roost inside, so the light is doing them no good. It's not a big issue with me, however, I only have four hens. I do think if it's cold enough, surely they will go inside the hen house to roost. Right now they are still making enough eggs for our family, so that is really fine with me. This has been a new experience for me this year, but so far, it has been a good one. I started with five gals but had to remove one because they decided they didn't like her. She is living with my goats now, and seems quite happy. She had a place all to herself, but elected to roost in with the goats which is kind of comical. I love the animal world.

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

Thanks for your correspondance. My light is inside the hen house, set to come on early, so as to extend the morning and set to go off around eight. But, the silly things wont roost inside, so the light is doing them no good. It's not a big issue with me, however, I only have four hens. I do think if it's cold enough, surely they will go inside the hen house to roost. Right now they are still making enough eggs for our family, so that is really fine with me. This has been a new experience for me this year, but so far, it has been a good one. I started with five gals but had to remove one because they decided they didn't like her. She is living with my goats now, and seems quite happy. She had a place all to herself, but elected to roost in with the goats which is kind of comical. I love the animal world.

I think you might want to physically put them in their coop every night until they figure out where to roost. If you don't shut them in at night, they are very exposed to predators and a raccoon or weasel could take out the whole group in one night.

I don't enjoy the trek down to the hen house to shut the door every night, but it seems as though every time I get lazy, I lose a hen. I have twice had Great Horned Owls in my hen house happily feasting on chickens--they came in through the 8" x 12" pop door.