Winter Lighting Setups

[enggass]

I live in New England and was thinking about a lighting setup for the winter. Mostly just to provide a little light during the short days. I currently have no power in my coop, but am thinking of running an extension cord just for the few winter months... Is anyone doing anything similar? If so, what is your setup? What kind of extension cord and light are you using?
I really don't want to run permanent power out to the coop. (about 50' from my house...)
Ideas?
Thanks,
Steve

 

[bigoakhunter]

Go to the SEARCH section and put in coop electric and you should find lots of info.

I was in the same boat last fall. About 40 foot from garage to coop. I ran a outdoor rated fairly heavy cord I got from Home Depot out to coop. at coop under eaves out of the weather put in a 3 foot drop cord that had 3 outlets. ran this through wall of coop. so when plugged in I had 3 outlets for that coop. Only used 2, 1 for timer to run winter light for laying. Other for heated dog dish to keep water from freezing.

You will do just fine.

 

[enggass]

Thanks. What kind of timer light was it?

 

[jzarabs]

We got our timer connection at Home Depot, has 2 electrical outlets and a time you can set for various times or depending on sunrise/sunset it just needs to have it's sensor exposed to light. The husband did a similar thing, ran a heavy duty extension cord from the patio to the coop, all the exposed connections are inside the dry, weather proof coop. It worked very well for us last winter, I just need to replace the bulb and it's ready for this winter!

ETA: We just used the standard metal heat lamps with the usual bulbs plugged into the electric timer....no special light needed! And the timer was very reasonable, can't remember how much but the husband won't spend more than $20 on any particular item related to the chickens

(a little sarcastic with that one!)

 

[Lifestyle Lift Journey]

How about those solar garden lights to hung around your coop? You don't have to use the cord this way.
The long listing lights collect energy from the sun, and if it's not enough sun, you can always use normal batteries (AA size or similar) to provide electricity.
You can trick chickens with the garden lights when the day is shorter.

 

[BWKatz]

I use a regular lamp timer for mine. U can set time on& off in am and again in pm. They use the timers to deter burgulars and also for xmas lites.

 

[woodmort]

I use a Light Stick (or Stik) which is a 40w florescent fixture the includes it's own plug-in cord and an on/off switch. I plug it into a duel timer that turns lights on/off in am and pm. The light lasts me about 2 years the timer is on about it's 10th even in the dusty conditions of the coop. I doubt a solar lights would work for you, you're further north than I am and they wouldn't be reliable here during the winter.

BTW be careful laying an extension cord if it goes along the ground, it may be hit by snowblower or snow shovel. I'd suggest you, somehow, string it. Of course make sure it is as heavy duty as you can buy at least #12 wire and three-plug.

 

[JustOneMore]

Quote:
So we don't need any special UV lights? I am thrilled that florescent lighting works for you as that is what we are planning to use!

I ABSOLUTELY agree on solar powered lighting in the northeast. We have a solar powered outdoor security light that gets FULL sun. That darned thing doesn't work for beans in the winter months in upstate NY.

Does anyone following this thread use the water heaters that are designed to go under metal "poultry drinkers"? We are using deep litter shavings for bedding and I thought that putting one of those on a couple of cement blocks would be a good system for ensuring that the girls have access to water 24/7. (We have 20 so I don't think a heated dog dish will be large enough.)

 

[enggass]

Quote:
Was it something similar to this?
http://doitbest.com/Undercabinet+li...model-GLS9721P-T8-WHI-doitbest-sku-523267.dib

 

[chicmom]

We did that last year, we just used heavy duty outdoor extension cords to two of our coops, and then we had some heat lamps hooked up. It was really helpful because we put their water under the heat lamps, and we didn't have to worry about it freezing. My husband anchored those heat lamps really well using zip-ties, that way they were totally immobile. It worked perfectly.