How fancy is your coop? Or maybe a more practical question for homestead chicken raisers is, how fancy does my coop need to be? There is a difference between frivolous and functional when it comes to amenities in the coop. With winter almost here, it’s time to think about how comfortable your coop needs to be to keep your flock happy and healthy all winter long. Which brings us to the common question of, should my coop have electricity?
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The Answer Is…
In my opinion, electricity is a functional amenity in the chicken coop. Both of my chicken coops have electricity running to them. I know, electricity isn’t a very ‘pioneerish’ thing to have at the homestead coop, but as a modern pioneer, I have found that having power out my chicken coops is extremely helpful! My answer would be yes, your chicken coop should have electricity. However, the need for electricity may depend on what climate you live in and how much time you have to invest in your flock.
For climates that have extreme weather changes, electricity can be very helpful during the winter months. As for time commitment, having electricity out at the coop can save daily cleaning time, winter time maintenance, and cut back on daily chicken care commitment.
Your flock can easily function without electricity in their coop. However, having a source of power in the coop can save you both time and money in the long run. I have electricity out at my chicken coops for these 5 main reasons:
#1. Lighting
One of the main reasons why I initially installed electricity out at my first chicken coop was so that I could have lights out there. The chicken coop should be pretty well lit by natural light. However, having artificial lights is especially helpful during the winter or when the daylight hours are shorter.
Being able to have lights out at the coop is also helpful if you want to supply supplemental light during the winter time. Supplemental light is used to keep hens laying throughout the winter despite the short daylight hours. There is some controversy surrounding this topic, but I won’t get into that right now.
I do supply supplemental light for my flock during the winter and electricity is essential for powering the lights.
There are two types of lights I have out at my coop. I have light bulbs that I use on a daily basis to provide light while I am cleaning or doing other chores out at the coop. Then I also have LED rope lights installed out at the coop to use as the supplemental light source. The rope lights provide a softer light (warm wavelengths) that the chickens can wake up to in the morning. They are also safer to have on for extended periods of time. Having electricity at the coop also allows me to put the rope lights on a timer to turn on and off at specific times without me having to manually flip the switch.
When using light bulbs out at the coop, you have to dust them regularly. Dust and cobwebs will gather on them and dull the light as well as create a fire hazard.
Benefits of Lighting
- You can have a well lit coop even in the early morning or late evening.
- Good lighting allows to you to see better for cleaning up, monitoring the flock, and checking for eggs.
- You can supply supplemental lighting during the short winter days to keep your hens laying.
- Supplemental lights can be put on a timer and plugged into an outlet so that they automatically turn on and off.
#2. Water Heaters
The second most important reason why I have electricity out at my coop is to keep water founts from freezing during our un-predictable Michigan winters.
There are many non-electrical methods for preventing water from freezing. The most reliable and time-efficient method is to just invest in an electrical heated water base or heated pet bowl. I go over some other methods in my ebook, The Complete Guide to Winter Chicken Keeping.
Being able to have a heated water base in both of my coops as well as a heated pet bowl in the enclosure ensures that my flock will always have water during the winter. I don’t have to worry about unthawing water founts every day or refreshing the water multiple times a day during extremely cold weather. It saves on time and water!
Having a reliable heated water system is also helpful for when I have to go away for a day or night during the winter. Finding a substitute chicken keeper is so much easier when they know they don’t have to refresh water every couple of hours! I can even leave my flock un-attended for periods of time during the winter while still being confident they will have food and fresh water.
Benefits of Electric Water Heaters
- They are more reliable during extreme weather than traditional methods.
- You don’t have to un-thaw and refill water founts multiple times a day during extremely cold weather.
- The flock doesn’t need as much daily care when you know their water will stay un-frozen no matter what the weather.
- They allow your flock to have access to lukewarm water all day long during the winter.
- They only turn on when needed, thus saving electricity.
- Electric water heaters can be installed inside or outside the coop. Outdoor water heaters can help decrease the amount of moisture within the coop which causes frostbite.
#3. Cleaning
Having power out to the coops is very helpful for keeping them clean. Not only can I turn the lights on when I clean every day, put I can also use power cleaning tools, like a shop-vac, out at the coop.
Electricity is helpful every year when I do an annual summer cleaning at the chicken coops. I plug in my shop-vac and go to town on vacuuming up dust, cobwebs and other debris! Having electricity makes cleaning go so much faster and it helps me be more efficient and more effective. I can see what I am cleaning as well as identify spots that needs some serious cleaning or scrubbing.
Electricity can also be helpful for plugging in other power tools. These may be tools that you need for cleaning or coop improvement projects.
Benefits of Electricity for Cleaning & Coop Maintenance
- You can plug in a shop-vac for deep cleaning.
- You can see what you are cleaning up and notice any spots you miss.
- Other power tools can be plugged in for when you need to do some coop maintenance.
#4. Automatic Doors
Most automatic doors do not require a constant source of electricity, instead, they are usually battery powered. However, those batteries still need to be regularly charged by power. I like to have my automatic door batteries plugged into a trickle charger that is powered by the electricity out at my coops.
This ensures that I never have to worry about the batteries running out of juice. The batteries ensure that the doors still have power even when the electricity goes out. However, the trickle chargers ensure that the batteries never run out of power to do their job. Having a battery powered trickle charger set up for my automatic doors has been so nice!
Automatic doors save me so much time and worry! I don’t have to rush home every evening to close up the chicken coops! They also help make the coops more self-sufficient. That way I can leave my flock for a few days without them needing daily morning and evening care.
Benefits of Automatic Doors
- You don’t have to open and close the chicken door manually every morning and evening.
- Prevents you from accidentally forgetting to close the chicken door!
- They are predator proof.
- Your flock can be more self-sufficient during the winter when they have an electric water heater to keep their water unfrozen and they have an automatic door that opens and closes automatically.
- A trickle charger ensures that the automatic door will never run out of power.
#5. Heat
Lastly, electricity is nice to have when I need to provide heat out at the coops. Now, you may be reading this and thinking, I thought we weren’t supposed to heat the coop!? You are correct! Chickens do not need a heated coop and, when given time to acclimate, should not need supplemental heat during the winter.
However, under extreme conditions, an additional source of heat may be needed out at the coop. I’m not talking about 60°F heat, I mean keeping the coop around 20-30°F when the outside temperatures drop into the single digits and negatives for an extended period of time. Sudden cold or prolonged extreme temperatures can cause cold stress. I go into more details about cold stress in my articles on Cold Stress in Poultry and Helping Your Flock Deal with Cold Stress.
For times when you need to supply some additional heat to keep your flock safe and healthy during the winter, having a safe method to supply that heat is essential. Electricity out at the coop provides you with some safe options such as a small space heater, heating pads, or heat panels.
Benefits of Electricity for Heating the Coop
- For areas that get extreme weather, some supplemental heat can help your flock adjust to winter time temperatures.
- Some breeds that are not developed for cold hardiness may not be able to withstand colder temperatures as cold hardy breeds can.
- Keeping the coop in the 20-30°F temperature range can reduce cold stress.
- Electricity provides you with safe means of using a poultry heating mat or poultry heating panel that the flock can use as they desire.
Caution: The big concern with providing supplemental heat during the winter is in the case of a power outage. If your flock relies on their supplemental heat, a power outage could give them a cold shock and not allow them time to adjust slowly to the colder temperatures. A good back-up plan would be to put the heat source on a battery power source, much like an automatic chicken door.
Installing Electricity
Although my knowledge in electrical installation is very, very limited, I still have a general idea of how to get electricity out to the chicken coop. I helped my dad install electricity out at both of our coops, and while I don’t know the in’s and out’s of installation, I can at least give you a general idea of how to get electricity out to your coop.
There are two ways you can get electricity out to the chicken coop: underground wires or overhead wires. Both of my coops have underground wires that run from the house out to the coops, each of which are on either sides of my backyard.
When you install underground wires, the wires must be protected from the elements (such as moisture) and must be buried below the frost line. I dug trenches in order for electrical lines to be run out to both of my coops. For the laying coop, a portion of their electrical line is aboveground. However, it is protected by a plastic electrical tube that keeps the wire safe from the elements and safe from free-ranging chickens.
For overhead wires, you would have to put up electrical poles. Then electrical wires can run from the source of electricity to the chicken coop via the electrical poles.
For either method, the chicken coop must have an electrical box installed within the coop. Once electricity is run to the electrical box, you can put electrical outlets and light switches anywhere within the coop as long as you can connect wires to the electrical box.
Of course, if all of this sounds too complicated, there are actually some alternatives you can install to have power out at the coop! But I’ll discuss those methods in a different article.
Safety Comes First!
Above all else, safety should come first when installing electricity out at the coop! Take these pre-cautions to ensure the safety of you and your flock!
- Never work with live wires!
- Always have the wires sufficiently protected from the environmental elements as well as from the chickens.
- Don’t place electrical outlets in areas that the chickens can access.
- Place plugs in any outlets that aren’t in current use to prevent them from being filled with debris.
- Ensure that any cords plugged into outlets can’t be stepped on, pulled out, or affected by flying and flapping chickens.
- Regularly dust any light bulbs, light bulb sockets, and electrical outlets.
- Always ensure that anything attached to an electricity source is secure and can’t be knocked out or yanked loose.
Should my coop have electricity? If you ask me, I think it should! Especially if you live in northern regions where light is limited for certain times out of the year, water founts freeze, and there is extreme weather. I love having electricity out at both my coops! It makes cleaning the coop, seasonal maintenance, and daily flock care so much easier and time efficient!
Electricity is a modern pioneer amenity that can be helpful on the homestead, however, there are many other ways to raise your flock like a pioneer! For more tips on raising your flock like a modern pioneer, make sure you are part of our modern pioneer newsletter community!
by Alexa
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