Lighting in coop

[Chicken Judy]

I have a red light in the coop (25 watt) for heat. Is it ok to leave it on all night. It is a mounted fixture so no fire will start. Just wondering if it is too much light for the girls. The 8 RIR's are giving me 7 or 8 eggs per day. I don't want to over work them!

 

[bargain]

Hi Neighbor Judy. If you believe that red light is needed in your chicken area for heat and it is secure, I see no problem with using it to help them stay warm. Double check all your wiring please and just make sure that there is no way that they can pull on it, sit on it, etc etc. I just had a dear friend loose a wonder secure barn because of a fire....sigh.... Down the road, you might want to consider putting a timer on it so that they can get "fuller sleep" in the evening time. And lesson we learned, make sure the timer goes on and off at the right hours so your hens aren't out in the dark and wondering where to go So you will need to modify that with the changing hours in the day. Are your RIR's fully grown and feathered and large fowl? It is up to you of course on how much heat you want to offer adult hens, but with our Large Fowl birds, we don't heat their roosts, but if yours are used to having heat at night or might be in a situation where you see that they need heat by all means offer it Our option on heat, is barriers to wind/snow etc so that they can cozy up to each other as they need. And of course they have a way/place to get away from the elements too! Hope this helped and have a blessed day!

 

[Chicken Judy]

Yes, they are full grown. I'll take your advise on the light and work on a timer for it. I was thinking it was too much light anyway. Part of my concern is the current coop is really small and they actually need the light to get on the roost. Timer would solve all the problems. thanks for the help....stay warm!