My coop caught on fire!! *Pics added in Post 15*

[JustMandy]

Quote:
Thanks you for all this information! I really just need light. I never really thought about the water. It's our first winter and we're in KY where it usually doesn't freeze for very long. I think I'll just take a kettle of hot water out in the mornings.

The Cristmas lights may be the right answer for us.

Barry Natchitoches, I do know about the issues with murcury. Honestly I forgot about it and am glad you reminded me. That would be a pitb to clean up in a coop.

 

[woodmort]

Kat's Silly Chickens :

Sorry dirtsaver, I got you mixed up with woodmort. It may have been his abrupt manner that caused my confusion. Woodmort I don't always type what I'm thinking (I have MS and don't always word things right), and I think you read more into my Christmas light agreement than was necessary. When I ask for advice I like not to be yelled at in CAPS. But Thank you All for your advice

Sorry Kat, didn't mean it as yelling, just emphasis. I guess I'm getting tired of telling people they are putting their chickens in jeopardy by using heating devices, especially heat lamps, they don't need.​

 

[ranchhand]

I have to agree with Jim (woodmort), because he's right. If you coop is ventilated without being drafty the feathered young'uns will be just fine without any added sources of heat. In 18 years of raising chickens I have only added a heat source a few times, and that was because my chickens had an inadequate coop. But that's off topic here.


That's not what Mandy was doing- the light was hung because the days are getting shorter and she was hoping to continue the egg production, rather than have the typical winter drop of laying. I don't do it, but it does no harm to boost day length as long as you don't go overboard.

Her message was that it can be mighty dangerous to just run an extension cord and hang a light, that chickens do the darnedest things so it all needs to be VERY well installed.

I really appreciate the fact that she would admit the error, show the results and remind/teach us all about the dangers involved!

Thank you, Mandy!

 

[JustMandy]

Quote:
Thanks for saying this!

 

[greenSearcher]

Some of you may be aware of Premier1supplies.com It is a good source for poultry fencing They also sell heat lamps that are all plastic frame components and ceramic bulb screw base. They built to avoid fires and the parts are all available for repair. They sell the Thermo cube where you plug in the heat lamps (2 outlets) that will turn them on when the temp fall below 35 and off when it goes above 45 degrees.They also introduced a D shaped catch net, with a 48" handle for only 24.00

 

[lizzybird]

For a little extra light at night, we picked up a couple of ropes of solar lights. We ran one set along the outside of the coup, and another in the inside of the coup. ( the solar charger part is outside) They don't last all night, but they give me a little extra bit of light to go and check on the girls before I go to bed. I believe these are a safe alternative due to the fact there is not electric involved the lights are all enclosed in a clear plastic "rope."

 

[NHchicks]

Wow. I've read about barn/coop fires in the newspaper, one time in Maine I believe 70,000 chickens died on a chicken farm. Reading this post makes me think yet again. Last winter was our first winter with chickens. I would feel so sorry for those chickens on blowing, windy, cold, snowy nights that we rigged up about 3 outdoor (thick) extension cords and ran them (along the ground and under the snow!!!) from our electrified shed to the chicken coop, quite a ways. Then, draped over a roost and secured with duct tape, hung the light bulb with one of those silver heat protector things on it. Can you believe that? Fortunately, nothing bad ever happened. I doubt it even heated anything up except maybe 6" around it. And they probably hated that thing being lit all night (not every night, only the super cold ones).

Now that I'm an experienced expert (HA), this thread has me committed to using no heat source at all this winter. We've made the coop more draft-free (it can get really windy here) and I'll just have to believe that the chickens are not as cold as I would be out there. When I think that no living thing could ever be warm on a zero degree, blowing night, I think about the sparrows that live here year round. Those things are t-i-n-y; how much down can they possibly have to keep them that warm that they can live here year round? Yet they do. So I guess birds can just tolerate the cold. It still feels weird that they aren't freezing to death when it's cold out like I would be.

I'm grateful for this thread. It may have averted disaster for my birds, and for a lot of other people reading it, too.

I might have to cover my vents on really cold nights, tho...

 

[Mofarmgirl]

There are safe alternatives for coop lights/heating. You just have to use some common sense. One person mentioned using a wire cage over the bulb and bolting it down, and the reptile light is also a good idea. A lot of us were raised on farms, were you would never have heated a chicken pen, but times they are a changin'. Some urban ordinances actually call for heated coops!
Common sense, be safe- should be fine!

 

[gioiosani]

Mandy,

I am very sorry problem and glad it wasn't worse and all your chickens are OK.

I have learnt a lot reading this thread.

First I have been concerned about how cold my hen house gets, now I am not (coldest -2deg C or +26 deg F)

Second why do you want to increase egg production I want to do the opposite have too many and can't give them away as all our neighbours have chickens.

Although I get more than they do per chicken as I take them for a walk every evening, do not let them out the enclosure unsupervised due to foxes and other predictors I am told there around.

Hope you come up with a safe solution to lighting.

 

[mrgutzmer]

We have 27 hens and 4 roosters - Northwest Illinois - Bishop Hill.
We use an oil filled electric heater -the kind that look like an old fashioned home heat radiator - fastened to cement blocks raised off the floor - run at 500 watt setting just barely on - just enough to take some of the chill off.
Our lighting is a CF bulb - in a poultry lamp - metal shade - with a front guard. That being said, the creatures have knocked the front guard off, bent the shade, and I do not know how, as it is suspended from the ceiling. We have considered putting a camer in just to monitor the nonsense that must go on in that coop!
God Bless,
Martin

Anne's Happy Hens
IL DEPT AG Lic # 18019
Bishop Hill, IL