I succumbed to the -20 and -25 below weather last week and wired up the coop with a big light bulb to help give the flock a little bit of warmth.
I have a nice hole above the coop door to run the electric cord into and I strategically positioned a gallon of Vermont maple syrup on top of the cord so I would not trip on it at night.
I am soo nervous about using electricity, but am calming myself by saying that its a temporary thing.
I will have to rig something up so the snowplow man doesn't rip it all out by accident.
The only change I have noticed since I hung the light is that my 2 hens that were laying eggs have suddenly stopped. Has this happened to any of you?
I am using a 75 watt bulb. What size are you using ?
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75 watts isn't going to do much for heat. If it's on continuously, it will affect laying adversely . They need 14 hrs of light to continue laying, but that includes daylight.
ReplyDeleteWith those temps, I'd probably hook up a light for my flock as well! We never get that cold, so I don't heat my coop. The lowest we ever get is the single digits and that's pretty rare. Normally we're in the 20s or 30s so they do fine.
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