Do You Heat Your Coop? (Poll) LATEST UPDATE PG 15

[Beekissed]

I'm with you. I'm still pretty new to this Chicken Farming. I am in West Va and the temps don't usually go below 20 degrees but I prefer to keep my chicken comfortable... why make them suffer if they don't need to. I have one 250 watt heat lamp in our coop, which is 10 x 10, however I won't turn it on until under 40 degrees. 12 chickens plus a rooster put off quite a bit of heat themselves. And I HOPE I'm doing things right cuz I love my chickens!

Lydia, I'm in WV too and I agree with the last two posts. If you love your chickens you'll turn off that heat lamp. They aren't suffering..God has given them a wonderful, downy coat that keeps them quite warm and it's sort of like your mother telling you to put on a sweater because SHE is cold...it makes no sense to heat your birds and cause them to become ill simply because you think it's cold outside.

Keep it up and you will eventually be dealing with sick chickens and possibly dead ones. That's not love....

 

[bobbi-j]

I'm with you. I'm still pretty new to this Chicken Farming. I am in West Va and the temps don't usually go below 20 degrees but I prefer to keep my chicken comfortable... why make them suffer if they don't need to. I have one 250 watt heat lamp in our coop, which is 10 x 10, however I won't turn it on until under 40 degrees. 12 chickens plus a rooster put off quite a bit of heat themselves. And I HOPE I'm doing things right cuz I love my

Lydia, I see that you are new to BYC. Welcome! You have received advice from very reliable resources (I have been following and heeding Ridgerunner's and Beekissed's words for quite some time. They have never led me astray.) I live in MN, and my chickens do not have heat lamps in their coops. I do have heated water bowls to prevent freezing, but that's it. I keep plenty of straw in the coop and we have vented soffits to help with the moisture. You live in a fairly warm place compared to some. Your chickens will be far better off without the heat lamp.

 

[Roxannemc]

Im like you i feel uncomfortable if i think my animals arent... but some ppl have a point if the electric goes out then they really will sufferand could die not use to the pure coldi think 20 is ok but if they are chicks maybe a light bulb or if they havent been slowly acclmated during the fall.

 

[bobbi-j]

I find it interesting that those who live in warmer states seem to be the ones more likely to want to heat their coops. Not slamming anyone here, just making an observation. One way to avoid having to heat a coop (and thereby lessen the chance of a fire) is to not get or hatch chicks in the late summer or fall. Wait until it's warmer so it's not an issue. If they do not have artificial heat, they will acclimate through the fall.

 

[Beekissed]

I've seen that as well but lately have heard more from folks in upstate NY or NH thinking they have to not only insulate the coop but heat it as well, due to subzero temps. I don't know what they think all the birds do where they live but they certainly don't have comfy, cozy cooping for subzero temps. And they have to work for their food all day, whereas chickens need merely stroll over to the feeder and waterer to get a snack and a sip.

Making coops, stalls, dog houses, etc. as snug as possible with nice, thick and warm bedding is all that is really needed, particularly if the animal has slowly acclimated to the decreasing temps. They will develop the fur and feathering to suit the ambient temps...if allowed to do so. If the coop is heated, they won't develop that necessary covering and when they walk outdoors they are going to receive a shock, then walk indoors to another temp fluctuation where they will develop moisture under their feathers from the warmth..then walk out to the cold where the moisture under the feathers get chilled...well...you get the picture. What results are birds having to suffer over and over because some human got cold and thought they were too. This weakens their natural immunity to airborne illness, which are amplified in a stuffy, heated coop where the germs are partying like it's 1999.

Then the birds get sick and people blame it on winter weather, so they insulate more, shut down the ventilation more and add more heat to keep the birdies from "catching cold". It's a vicious cycle.

 

[chicken noodle3]

what temp

 

[gilbsmom]

I do heat when it gets in the single digits. I live in northern Wisconsin, our coop is insulated and we have a water heater and a flat panel heater as well.

 

[SunnySkies]

Nope. No heat here. My birds were out free ranging in the snow and producing eggs last winter, looking pretty decent.

It makes sense to not heat. When I was showing horses, we blanketed and heated the barn to keep coats down so we could minimize clipping...and then we had to blanket and heat until April because the horses had thin coats...and the horses always ended up with a upper respiratory infection from the warm, damp, stale air thanks to a warm (45-50 degrees) barn, somewhat closed up to keep that expensive heat in. I wanted to quit doing that a few years ago myself, but my fellow boarders insisted, and my horses were always sick every winter. Now that we have moved away from the boarding barn and the horses are out 24/7 and only blanketed if it is wet, even my COPD horse is totally healthy.

The fire risk always makes me nervous. There was someone here who lost their birds in a coop fire last winter, iirc. I have seen barns burn down to the ground due to electrical shorts before the animals could be rescued. Scary stuff. Dairy farmers use heaters but never unsupervised and never where flammable stuff is.

Frostbite is due to excessive humidity and too little ventilation in the coop. None of mine have ever had frostbite.

 

[annagarret]

No

 

[Lydia77]

Well I do believe I have done something right ........ I "was" going to use that heat lamp but after reading the dangers of the lamp itself and the danger of power outages, I am happy to say that I have not turned that lamp on and I don't plan to (and we were at 22 degrees the other morning)......I also have good venting at the top of the coop... and that is in Thanks to all of you nice experienced chicken farmers who have posted on BYC ..... Thankyou for all of the great tips and advice! And one more thing ..... someone gave the advice of placing boards under the roosts to catch the poop which makes "daily" cleaning very easy... I just take them out and scrape them off..... thus keeping the excess moisture out of the coop.