Skylight

[tlharv]

I've been doing some reading on this board about the amount of light chickens need. The answers are varied... some add light so keep the girls laying during the winter months. Some give the hens the winter off. Either way, I noticed that the coop I built is pretty dark inside, mainly because I was too cheap to install windows. However, I did have leftover corrugated PVC panels from a greenhouse project, so I added a skylight to brighten things up.

Question is, is there such a thing as too much light in the henhouse (it's now as light in there as it is outside, with the exception of the egg-laying area which is covered)?

Here's the coop looking at the northwest corner:

I added greenhouse panels to the east side of the roof (never gets direct sun because of tree blockage):

Now it's as light inside as it is outside - this seems brighter because I used a fill-in flash to take the photo:

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

That should work well as long as it never get direct sunlight. That should warm up the winter months.

 

[patandchickens]

I don't know how cold you get in the winter, but if you get down to freezing and below, you may well have to put up insulation of some sort (even just temporary bubblewrap might be enough) to prevent condensation from forming. (Condensation prevents ventilation from being able to do a good job drying out your coop, and by keeping the coop more humid will predispose chickens to frostbite etc).

So I would not count on it in the wintertime, as it may have to be covered (along with the rest of the roof's underside).

Does it REALLY get no direct sunlight, ALL YEAR ROUND? It's not going to take very long for direct sun on the skylight to oven-ize your coop.

That said, if you can keep decent coolth and dry-th despite the skylight, I doubt you will have a problem with it being too much light. Although it is often said that too bright a coop promotes picking, this seems as far as I can tell to pertain mainly to crowded confined chickens. If they have plenty of space and spend most of their time outdoors anyhow, people do not generally have problems with 'too much' light.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[tlharv]

The coldest we get in a typical winter is in the 20's, and I plan to string up a red heat lamp for when it gets below 35. As it is right now, the birds perch on the rafters that are in direct line with the big vents (see 3rd photo above), which is great for the summertime but could become a huge draft issue in the winter. I could certainly use some of your ventilation guidance here, Pat!

In the winter, there won't be as many leaves on the trees, so there COULD be some direct sunlight coming in, in the morning hours. Normally the hens are let out at around 7-8AM, so hopefully the sunlight won't be a factor for very long.

I guess the next question is: does it matter if the roost area is pretty dark inside? If the hens go outside during the day, isn't that the light they typically need?

Thanks,
Tom

 

[patandchickens]

The coldest we get in a typical winter is in the 20's, and I plan to string up a red heat lamp for when it gets below 35.

I think you will find that it is going to be difficult to find a good location for your bulb (where it will not burn their combs nor catch too much dust/bedding), but that you also do not need a red heat lamp, just maybe a 40-60w bulb (which is far cheaper to run and, conveniently, also a lot safer).

As it is right now, the birds perch on the rafters that are in direct line with the big vents (see 3rd photo above), which is great for the summertime but could become a huge draft issue in the winter.

How many chickens is this -- do they require both rafters, or would they fit easily onto just one? By far the best thing to do would be to close up (or mostly close, and well-baffle) one of the vents, and prevent them from roosting on the *other* rafter, so that they are roosting nearest to the closed or mostly-closed vent. If that makes sense?

If they need to use both rafters, then frankly I think you probably have a problem. I guess if you have decided you're *going* to use electric heat -- I sure wouldn't, though -- and can actually FIND some way of mounting it where it's safely out of everything's way, then probably the thing to do would be to well-baffle both vents, so taht at least you don't have too much direct breeze coming in.

Another option would be to tack up vertical chickenwire to fill the 'trusses' and physically prevent hens from roosting on the rafters, and install one or two (as needed) very *low* roosts just above the floor. You'd probably want to convert back to your current arrangement for summertime.

I guess the next question is: does it matter if the roost area is pretty dark inside? If the hens go outside during the day, isn't that the light they typically need?

Well, yes, except that the darker it is inside, the later they will get up and go outside and the sooner they will come in at night. So, the darker your coop is, the shorter daylength your birds will experience (and that's what controls egg-laying). In a really dim coop, you could potentially have chickens experiencing something like an 8-10 hr day when outdoors (or if they had lotsa good windows) it's actually a 12-14 hour day happening, you know?

Good luck, have fun,

Pat​

 

[tlharv]

It sounds like the skylight makes sense as long as there isn't direct sun hitting it (superheating the hens) and there's adequate ventilation to get hot or moist air out of the coop.

I have six hens (3 Ameraucanas and 3 black sexlinks), and they're about 20 weeks old. This will be my first winter with hens. Right now all of them fit on one rafter, but occasionally I see some on both. Preventing them from using the rafters and making a lower perch is a great idea -- I'll do that as soon as it starts getting colder at night. It'll probably be a ladder-style that's low enough so they're not in the line of fire from those vents. Great idea to baffle the vents -- thanks!

In terms of heat, I'd like to use as LITTLE as possible. I do have an outlet wired in the coop, and I figured I'd use one of those thermal plugs that turns on at 35F and turns off at 45F, such as the following:
http://www.dockbubbler.com/OrderPage.asp?PN=LMITCO3

I'd plug the heat lamp and de-icer into that. Because the roof is so steep, I can have the heat lamp as high as 30" above the floor. Think that's ok?