running extension cords to coops

[musson]

I put an electric wire "(14/2) exterior grade" into a 1" PVC pipe which I buried 3-4 inches in the ground. The cost of the wire and pipe... was less than $50. I terminated it in an outdoor box with a plug. It was pretty easy and I can't run over it with the mower

 

[joebryant]

If your coops are more than 25 feet from your house's electrical outlets, I would not do it if I were you. Considering the cost of extension cords, it might not cost much more to have an electrician run the right gauge wire from your switch box to your coops and put in a couple of wall plugs in each one. Using those wall plugs, you'd be safe to plug in anything you'd want.

 

[countrygirl4513]

I'd like to try that but it would take alot of digging and burying. I'm soon gonna have to consider it since my mom is giving me a deep freezer and it will have to go into the back shed, no power, so the pvc was my thought too.

 

[6littlechickies]

We did this last year for our coop. Working on building a new barn before it gets cold this year but the extension cord worked great last year. Just be SURE to get outdoor cords!!! I know they have them all over the place at Christmas time, in fact I just grabbed a couple from our stash to use.

I asked my dad who has been an electrician for 30+ years about it last year, he said we'd be fine--and we were! We live in NE ohio in what is referred to as the 'snow belt' so we get LOTS of snow--my little town averages over 100 inches a season!

Cannot speak for your area but it worked for us.

 

[Little Ameraucana Mom]

Quote:
That is what my husband said he'd do, but he is the king of unfinished projects, This one he never even started. I do everything by myself, but I don't know anything about electricity.

 

[antlers]

You can make your own cord out of building wire. Buy a coil of 12 gauge UF (underground feeder wire) and put a plug on each side. Not very flexible but very safe in any length you need. You can also bury this same wire in the ground to create your own underground cable I would stay away from long lines of flexible extenion cord unless they are suspended off ground by posts or what ever.

 

[patandchickens]

The first thing you really have to determine is whether the circuit they are going to be plugged into, in the house, has the capacity to TAKE the extra draw. Heated waterers/bases and heatlamps draw pretty significant current -- like between 120-250 watts *each* -- and especially if this is being multiplied by 3 coops, that could be a problem depending on what is already on the household circuit.

Running extension cords (esp. multiple ones) across the yard is really not a very safe arrangement, neither from the perspective of humans or animals getting shocked or from the perspective of an overloaded wire or partly-pulled-apart plug connection starting a fire. Coops *do* burn down from things like that; people *do* get zapped hard and occasionally seriously injured or killed.

By far the best thing would be to either a) trench in a PROPER electric line yourself and then hire an electrician to do the final connections for you. Or b) go without electricity, haul water as needed to keep it thawed (using large waterers with insulation will lengthen the time it takes to freeze), and use battery or solar-operated shed lights as "work lights", and solar yard lights if you really want to extend daylight for laying (although I question whether the latter is worth the aggravation).

If a person is *going* to use extension cords, at least use the heaviest-duty ones you can find, the 14-gauge 'heavy duty' ones, and use a single long cord rather than multiple shorter ones strung together. Anything joined should be knotted (but not so tight it pulls the plug connection ajar) and ideally wrapped with electrical tape or something like that, and set up OFF the ground well above any level of flooding or snow, with the junction the highest point so that any moisture getting on it runs off to either side, and covered with a bucket or whatever. It is still not a great idea, mind you.

The octopus of two cords in series branching out to three different coops from a multi-outlet adapter particularly worries me...

Good luck, have fun, be *safe*,

Pat

 

[Cherlyn]

Quote:
That is what my husband said he'd do, but he is the king of unfinished projects, This one he never even started. I do everything by myself, but I don't know anything about electricity.

No, no... that would be MY husband.

~Cherlyn

 

[Little Ameraucana Mom]

What do you guys think of the solor shed lights??? Are they bright enough to see in there.

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

I run extension cords out to my coops for now. We're adding on to the one existing coop, and plan to install electricity with outlets into it.

In the meantime, we have a storage barn that we ran electric to and we have an outdoor pole light with an electrical outlet. The pole light is closer to my coops that the storage barn or the house, so I use the outlet from there.

I use heavy gauge extension cords, ones that are safe to use outside, and where I have attached other cords we wrap them with a plastic bag and use duct tape to seal it to keep rain/snow out.

It has worked well so far.