Heat lamp thoughts!

[oldhenlikesdogs]

We are again looking at -teens with up to -35 wind chills. This is winter in Wisconsin. I have never provided extra heat, every winter all my chickens survive and go outside most days, my shed has an open doorway to the southeast and is not insulated. They will look cold but I get them moving with scratch, and standing with feathers fluffed and even shivering is a natural way to warm themselves, and I give them warm water. I always provide hay to stand on, and proper roosts, I don't have chickens with frostbite on their feet this way.

Chickens are biologically different than humans and can get too hot with extra heat if they can't escape it, put on your warmest coat and stay in your house to see how it can feel, it can sometimes lead to aggressive behaviors, so if you are providing heat make sure they can get away from it. If you choose not to heat don't feel guilty as they really don't need it, I have kept silkies and currently frizzles and they are fine.

 

[ChatKath47]

One of my three, the Leghorn, decided, just as the Pacific Northwest cold was setting in, to start her molt. She was NAKED and did some really funny, distressing things, like being sort of disoriented and would walk backwards and run into things. That, of course, quit when the feathers started coming back in. I worried that she'd be too cold until the feathers were fully in, and even though I'd read all the reasons why NOT to have a lamp, my husband put one hanging from the covered roof out in the chicken yard that directs the warmth toward the entrance/exit door of the coop. It is high enough it doesn't come in contact with straw, chickens or anything else, just right for the light shining down on the entrance. I noticed that at night the two Amerucanas would sit on either side of her on the roost, I am assuming it was to keep her warm, but though the light wasn't shining into the coop, I did notice that on the cold mornings the three would sit in the doorway, in the light from the lamp, for a while before venturing out into the backyard.

Everyone says I pamper and spoil my three "girls", but they're not "just chickens", they're my pets with special privileges!

 

[detailshere]

We have a 7' x 10' chicken house that holds our current 11 Rhode Island Red hens. It is now mid January and we still get 9-10 eggs a day from them. First we insulated the chicken house with 3 1/2" of fiberglass insulation including the ceiling and put paneling over that so the chickens couldn't tear it up. Behind the four foot roost we mounted a 24" x 24" 350 watt radiant picture heater angled to directly target them. It plugs into a thermocube that is plugged into the wall outlet so when the temperature drops to 38 degrees it comes on and when the chicken house warms up to 45 degrees it shuts off. We manually close and lock the trap door to outside when it gets dark but we leave a full spectrum growlight incandescent bulb on until about 10-11pm when we come out and shut it off and then they only get a small LED night lite for light. This gives them a full night's rest. In the morning they get natural light from two windows. We have very spoiled chickens. Not only have they completely rototilled the garden for us in search of bugs and worms but they are fed non GMO food and Irina makes them an oatmeal/kefir mix (kefir grows really fast using raw milk) that contains other seeds in it also. She also makes them mashed potatoes which they love and mashed potatoes is cheaper than chicken feed from the feedstore; a sack of non GMO chicken feed at $39/bag lasts a long time here.

 

[JackE]

Unless you have some kind of exotic, thinly feathered breed of chicken, it's really a joke, to think they need "Help" to "Keep warm". With their high body temps, coupled with one of nature's best insulators, they are built to handle the cold. You are doing them no favors, sticking a heatlamp in their coop. All you are doing is needlessly running up your electric bill, and taking a real chance of burning your coop down, along with the birds in it.

Below is a pic of an open-air coop, the temps is around 10F (It gets colder around here). No insulation, except for the excellent insulation the chickens provide themselves. No heat provided, except for the cookie-tin water fount warmer (That's what the wire, in the pic below, is for). Coops like that, back in the day (100yrs ago), were used up into Canada. Chickens thrive in a coop like that. Well ventilated, no foul odors or problems with high humidity. And even with the whole front wall open, it's still usually 10 F warmer in the coop, than outside.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Unless you have some kind of exotic, thinly feathered breed of chicken, it's really a joke, to think they need "Help" to "Keep warm". With their high body temps, coupled with one of nature's best insulators, they are built to handle the cold. You are doing them no favors, sticking a heatlamp in their coop. All you are doing is needlessly running up your electric bill, and taking a real chance of burning your coop down, along with the birds in it. Below is a pic of an open-air coop, the temps is around 10F (It gets colder around here). No insulation, except for the excellent insulation the chickens provide themselves. No heat provided, except for the cookie-tin water fount warmer (That's what the wire, in the pic below, is for). Coops like that, back in the day (100yrs ago), were used up into Canada. Chickens thrive in a coop like that. Well ventilated, no foul odors or problems with high humidity. And even with the whole front wall open, it's still usually 10 F warmer in the coop, than outside.

well said, and I love those coops.

 

[Liberty For All]

I guess the biggest thing is to keep your chickens out of the wind.

 

[Stablemom54]

I live in Iowa, where the temps change dramatically. Just this week we have gone from -1 to 50+. Now it's expected to drop again tonight. I have 15 Buff Orpingtons and they seem to be handling it just fine. I have a florescent light in their coup that I turn on from dark till 10:00 pm. They can free range during the day or scratch around in the stable that their coup in very near. They lay better with the light. I average about 5 to 8 eggs a day from them.With them molting I would think you would want some deep bedding . That way they can nestle down in it. Some old hay or straw. Good luck.

 

[Macis Papa]

Im also from Iowa I've never used any heat in my coops, I don't think they need it. Even on the coldest days my chickens spend most of their time outside under the coop. On a cold sunny day it might be 10 degrees outside and 30 degrees inside, they choose to be outside. If birds couldn't handle the cold all of the wild birds would fly south for the winter. Heating the coop is basically a personal choice, if you will sleep better knowing they have some extra heat then go for it. They're your chickens after all. I'm pretty sure mine will be waiting to go out Sunday morning when it's -12 and chase the sparrows and woodpeckers away from their scratch.

 

[Karen508]

In the west, where temps can get below zero at night and below freezing during the day on a regular basis we were concerned about freezing birds. Our coop is actually made of industrial grade green house plastic. This means that on a sunny day, it can get quite comfy in the coop regardless of how cold it is, as long as the sun is shining (which it usually is). We have 1- 250 watt red bulb heating lamp on a timer to switch on after dark and it has begun to get REALLY cold outside. We have a protective wire cage surrounding the heat lamp to prevent birds from flying into or banging into the bulb and causing problems. The heat lamp switched off come morning. We have about 1 inch of shavings on the floor of the coop and about 4 inches of shavings in their nesting boxes. So far, after 5 years, not one bird has had frostbite.

 

[centrarchid]

During winter months all chickens I have ever observed would, when they have the option, find locations that are most comfortable temperature wise when temperature was extreme so long as it did not interfere with predator concerns they had. When conditions are windy it takes less extreme temperatures to get them to seek warmer shelters. By warmer, I mean only a degree or two and on surfaces that do not draw so much heat from their feet. If the birds do this when they have the option, then are getting benefits. Same birds penned up and exposed to - 15 F temperatures survive just fine but they would move a lot if they could.

Hen below now pushing seven years old roost is kept in a pen by herself as shown every winter. Conditions she endures would not be considered mild even by chicken keepers in northern tier states because she is outdoors with considerable wind. She survives just fine and come spring she is in better feather than anything that is overwintered in a coop. When ever I release her for some free-range time on cold winter days, she immediately seeks out warmer locations even though her best food I apply is in the pen. She will fly 50 yards over deep snow to cover and come back to pen for feed only at end of day before returning to roost. She is still about the comfort. I am willing to bet if I put a heat lamp or heat pad out in a cover patch she will go to it on cold days even if the cover patch is no normally preferred.

For another analogy, most here could survive sleeping on a basement concrete floor with no blankets or pillows if given no options but most of us can exercise choice.