Lighting the Chicken Coop

It's time, once again, to put a light in the chicken coop.  We do this every year because it helps keep the chickens laying eggs throughout the short days of winter.  It also generates a little bit of heat in the coop for those extra cold nights.

We plug the light into a timer which is set to come on at dusk and go off two to three hours later, then string it up to the roof supports in the coop.

There is no electricity to the coop, so we always have run an extension cord from the coop to the garage and there it lays on the ground all winter.  It's never been a problem.

Up until last year, we ran the extension cord into the garage and plugged it in there, but Tom decided it would be better to have an outlet outside the back door.  It comes in handy having an electrical engineer as a husband.  If we need an electrical outlet somewhere...he just puts one in.  Here's this fancy outdoor one with a cover and all.

Well, this year, we didn't figure on this gal.  Little Miss Destructor.  Of course, the first night we had the extension cord laying out there, she went and gnawed on it.  Tom was furious.  Another near death experience for Ginger.  She's looking a little sheepish at the moment.

So, I had the idea to just string the cord up through the trees to keep it out of her reach.

And, that is what we did; out the back of the coop to the nearest tree.

Then to the next tree...and, so on.  Luckily, there are several trees close together.

Tom wound electrical tape around each spot that had been chewed.

And, our handy-dandy McAlister's cup to protect the plugs of the extension cords (from the wet weather) where they come together.