Do chicken coops need electricity?
This is one of those questions that every new chicken owner should ask, but many don’t, and then end up with huge regrets down the road.
Do chicken coops need electricity? Most chicken coops will need electricity for heating chicken waterers in the winter, unless a person is available to manually replace the chickens’ water several times throughout the day to prevent freezing. Electricity may also be needed for heaters, automatic doors, fans, and lights, although these amenities are optional in most locations.
Not all chicken coops need electricity, but this is a question you need to consider closely. If you decide your coop doesn’t need electricity, and then you actually need it down the road, but can’t easily add it, you may end up with a disaster on your hands.
In this article, you will learn everything you need to know to make this important decision, including:
The 8 reasons why you may need electricity for your chicken coop
Other options for providing power to your chicken coop
Extension cord use and safety in the coop
Buying a premade coop with an electrical package
This post contains affiliate links for my favorite products from Amazon and Rita Marie’s Chicken Coops. As an Amazon and Rita Marie’s Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.
8 reasons why you may need electricity in your chicken coop
Reason #1: Electricity for heating water
This is really the biggest reason you’ll want to consider having electricity for your chicken coop as your chickens’ health depends on it.
Your chickens’ waterers will freeze over in the winter if you just leave them be. And you definitely don’t want your chickens to go without fresh water in the winter months.
Chickens have to work hard in below freezing temperatures to stay warm. They burn a lot of calories shivering and otherwise trying to maintain as much body heat as possible. Your chickens’ feed intake increases in the winter months for this reason.
You don’t want to add another stress to your birds, such as dehydration. Their bodies are already stressed and struggling enough. Your chickens need water to ensure their bodies can work as efficiently as possible to keep them warm and healthy.
And your chickens need water to continue laying eggs.
Additionally, if chickens eat a lot of food but don’t have water, their chances for crop impaction increase. Crop impaction is potentially deadly if not caught and treated in time.
If you are able to get electricity to your coop, I recommend using a water heater base, like this water heater from Amazon. You simply plug the base in and put your galvanized steel chicken waterer (or other waterer) on the base, and your chickens will have drinking water all day. This is the system I use for all my flocks.
Others use heated dog bowls, like this heated bowl from Amazon, but I don’t like these as much because chickens are able to poop in them, and possibly even tip them over.
If you don’t have electricity in your chicken coop, you can manually replace your chickens’ water several times throughout the day. I did this my first year with chickens—the heated base makes life so much easier!
You also will find many DIY ideas for keeping water from freezing when you don’t have electricity, but most of them only work (if at all) if the temperature is hovering around freezing. Once the temperature drops much below freezing, most of the DIY methods fail.
You can see one of the better DIY methods in the YouTube video below. Unfortunately, for those of us who don’t get sun in the winter, this method isn’t likely to work.
Reason #2: Electricity for heating the coop
I wish there was a better option for heating the coop than using electricity. My husband looked into building a system that heated the coop through solar energy, but he found it would cost around a thousand dollars to build. We will likely still try it at some point.
I also tried to find a battery that may be able to power a heater in the coop, but I had no luck. A heater draws a lot of energy and batteries just won’t last.
Of course, whether chicken coops need heat or not is very controversial. When I first looked into this question my first year with chickens, I came to the conclusion that my chickens would likely be warm and happy in the winter. This is because I found that most people who lived in areas colder than my native Idaho said that if you have cold-hardy breeds, your chickens don’t need any heat in the coop.
However, my first winter, I was appalled at how miserable all my chickens looked. They were spending all day in the chicken coop, puffed up, shivering, standing on one leg, trying to get warm. They didn’t have the motivation or energy to do anything.
I learned then that, sure, cold-hardy breeds may be able to survive very cold temperatures, but they are absolutely miserable doing so.
One morning, I found a couple of my chickens had gotten frostbite on the tips of their combs, and one of my roosters had frostbite on his wattles. I was horrified, and filled with guilt. When I went back to see what more experienced chicken keepers had to say about this, I was disappointed at what I saw.
I’m sure you’ve seen your share of these comments. They go something like this: minor frostbite is “unavoidable,” “inevitable,” or “not anything to worry about.”
What? Not true. Your chickens may survive frostbite, but even mild cases are incredibly painful.
During my time raising chickens, I have come across some very cruel practices that are still completely commonplace. Shrugging one’s shoulders when their chickens get frostbite and saying, “What ya gonna do?” is one of those practices. (Another one of those practices is holding chickens upside down—for more on that, see my article here.)
If someone tried to excuse frostbite in their dogs or cats using these same arguments, they’d be accused of animal cruelty. Well, folks, frostbite in chickens is no less painful, and putting your chickens in conditions that cause frostbite is no less inhumane.
After that first time when some of my chickens got frostbitten, I immediately bought this flat panel heater and this Sweeter Heater, found on Amazon, for my coop. Both are good products, but the Sweeter Heater is by far my favorite.
Here you can see one of my Sweeter Heaters in one of my small coops—it’s hanging over the roosting bars on the left. Sweeter Heaters come in several sizes.
And my rooster whose wattles got frostbitten? Well, he lived indoors for the cold nights the rest of the winter. He’d also stay indoors on days when the temperatures were below freezing.
Even without electricity, there are some things you can do to try to keep your coop a little warmer. Kathy Shea Mormino, the Chicken Chick, has a blog post with excellent suggestions here.
However, if you live in a place that gets incredibly cold weather, consider going the route of having electricity in the coop so you can use safe heaters, like the ones mentioned above. Your chickens will be so much happier and so much healthier.
Reason #3: Electricity to run a fan in the coop
I have never run a fan in the chicken coop, but I do plan to try this next summer. I’ll let you know how it goes. I have, however, run an air conditioner (see the next section).
If your chicken coop gets very hot (80-90 degrees and above), you may want to consider using a fan in the coop. If your coop is insulated, in the shade, and cools down at night, a fan is likely not necessary (although it may still be appreciated).
If you do use a fan, use a heavy-duty fan meant for the outdoors, such as this wall mount outdoor fan from Amazon, as chicken coops are incredibly dusty. Indoor fans likely won’t last long.
You’ll want to make sure to periodically clean the fan. I suggest using sand bedding for safety reasons. Organic bedding may pose a small fire hazard. For more on how to use sand bedding in your chicken coop (and why it’s the best bedding ever), check out my articles:
Sand for chicken coop bedding: Pros, cons and how to do it right
The BEST chicken coop bedding: Sand vs. straw vs. pine shavings
Reason #4: Electricity to run an air conditioner in the coop
As stated above, if your insulated chicken coop is in the shade, your chickens have access to good shade in the run, and your coop cools down some at night, you probably don’t need to cool the coop with electric methods.
If your coop is going to get very hot and stay very hot, I recommend getting electricity to your coop, and trying a fan first, rather than an air conditioner.
I ran this air conditioner in my chicken coop the first summer I had chickens. At this time, my chickens were still too small to free range and find their own shade and cool dirt. The run did have some shade and dirt, but it wasn’t a lot.
My young chickens looked so miserable in the heat of the summer that I installed the air conditioner. Because our chicken coop was well ventilated and very large, the coop didn’t cool off at all.
The chickens could cool down right next to the air conditioner, which was wonderful, but any chickens who weren’t lucky enough to get the good spots, were just as miserable.
If you have a smaller coop with fewer chickens, an air conditioner may work really well.
However, cleaning the air conditioner of all the coop dust can be a nightmare. If you want to try an air conditioner, choose a bedding that creates very little dust, such as sand. Do not choose dusty bedding types like wood shavings or peat moss. (In fact, I recommend you don’t ever use these other types of bedding anyway as they are dangerous for your chickens’ health).
For more information on bedding for the chicken coop, check out my articles:
Reason #5: Electricity to run an electric fence around the chicken coop
Many electric poultry fences don’t need electricity. They run off of a solar panel, so you do have another option here. Check out Premiere’s Poultry Net Starter Kit on Amazon for one of the most popular solar-powered poultry fences.
Reason #6: Electricity to run an automatic chicken coop door
Many automatic chicken coop doors don’t need electricity. In fact, the most highly recommended doors are powered either by batteries, such as Chicken Guard’s Automatic Door from Amazon, or by solar panels, such as Happy Henhouse’s Automatic Door.
Coop Controls even offers an automatic solar-powered device to close your run door. Genius.
For more information on pop hole doors, check out my article, Chicken coop pop doors: Size, height off the ground, and design ideas.
You can also buy high-quality, prebuilt chicken coops with automatic doors included. Rita Marie’s Chicken Coops offer both electrically-powered and solar-powered automatic doors with their coops. They also offer an electrical package.
Reason #7: Electricity to provide light for you
When I need to go out into the coop at night, I just bring a flashlight or a headlamp. However, I know many chicken keepers really want to have a light in the coop that they can turn on.
Luckily, you can install battery-powered lights that don’t require electricity. Lisa Steele of Fresh Eggs Daily wrote a blog post here that provides DIY instructions for installing battery-powered lights in your coop for less than $50.
Reason #8: Electricity for lights to keep your hens laying year-round
I like to give my hens a break from laying eggs in the winter, particularly as they are trying so hard to keep warm. In my opinion, the last thing they need in the bitter cold is to put their much-needed energy into making me breakfast. (Some of them do anyway, regardless of the short days.)
But I know a lot of people feel they can’t go without eggs for a few months. If this is you, then you’ll need to make sure your hens have at least 12 hours of light every day. In the winter months, you’ll need to provide them with artificial light. (Also, make sure they are getting at least 8 hours of darkness for rest.)
You may be able to get away with battery-powered lights as long as you have a lot of them around the coop, a good charger, and lots of extra batteries. Otherwise, you will want electricity in your coop.
Can you use extension cords to provide electricity for your chicken coop?
Good question. Let me know if you have the right answer. Really, though, it seems like everybody has a strong opinion on this. You’ll have to decide for yourself where you stand.
The reason using extension cords in the coop is a controversial topic is mainly because extension cords are meant specifically for temporary use. In the long-term, they may cause electric shock or even fires.
Right now, I am using extension cords for my coops to power their water heaters and their coop heaters. I have them plugged into outdoor GFCI plugs on my house. (What the heck is a GFCI plug? Here is some info.)
My coops are close enough to my house that I have the cords suspended above the ground, and they enter the coops through small holes in the sides. This prevents the cords from being exposed to rodents, who are known to chew through them.
Many chicken keepers enclose their extension cords in PVC or metal conduits and bury them under the ground to help protect them. Others just let the cords sit on the ground, and haven’t had problems. I’m not sure about the long-term safety of these options.
How high is the risk of fire with extension cords in the coop?
Again, good question. I wish I knew. I couldn’t find any numbers or statistics. I don’t think the fire risk is very high if you use the right type of extension cord (see the next section), but the fact that there is a risk at all is concerning.
If you’re going to use extension cords to bring electricity to your chicken coop, I highly recommend you use sand bedding. Straw, pine shavings, and other organic bedding types are incredibly flammable. Your risk of fire is substantially lower when using inorganic bedding, such as sand.
For more information on sand as bedding, see my article, Sand for chicken coop bedding: Pros, cons and how to do it right.
What kind of extension cord should you use?
You absolutely need a heavy-duty, outdoor 12 gauge extension cord. Other options are simply not safe for your chickens.
The website, Wirecutter, researched more than 40 extension cords and talked with safety experts to determine the 6 best extension cords for zero-degree temperatures. They tested these 6 extension cords, and found that the US Wire and Cable 99100 Extension Cord, pictured here, is the best and safest extension cord available.
In their own words:
“It’s the most flexible cord we tested, it’s durable in all types of weather, it won’t break down if dragged through oil or grease, and it makes a strong connection—all of which add up to a cord that should last for years even in the harshest environments.”
Can you buy a premade coop with an electrical package?
Rita Marie’s Chicken Coops is a company that provides high-quality, Amish-built coops with an electrical package option. The package includes a light bulb fixture, outlet, and switch that you can tie into an electrical line or use with an extension cord.
My latest coop is a Rita Marie coop and I’ve been pleased with the electrical package. You can also buy your coop with heated roosting bars! This is a wonderful and safe way to warm your chickens during those blistering cold winter nights.
I love having these heated roosting bars in my new coop—almost as much as my chickens!
To learn more about Rita Marie Chicken Coops, check out my review article, The BEST luxury coop you’ll ever buy: Spoil your chickens with Rita Marie’s.
Other questions you need to answer before getting your first chicken coop
I started this article by saying that the question of electricity in the coop is one that every new chicken owner should ask, but many don’t. And if you don’t ask the question, then you may end up with huge regrets down the road.
Unfortunately, there are many other chicken coop questions that fit into this category. Buying or building your first chicken coop comes with a huge learning curve.
But don’t despair! I created a free video training course, Chicken Coops 101: Designing Your Chickens’ Dream Home, to answer all these important questions in one place. Check it out for peace of mind and happy chickens!
And if you want to learn how to build my red coop (pictured at the top of this article), check out my video course and plans.
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The BEST luxury coop you’ll ever buy: Spoil your chickens with Rita Marie's
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