Heating Chicken Coop

[GraceLaneFarms17]

I've read some places that some people don't heat their chickens? And then others do. So asking for clarification on this.
We are using an old dog house, which then has an attached run to it. At night, the chickens, who are about 4 months old (and hardy) go in the dog house that is equipped with 2- 250w brooder lamps. This is your standard sized dog house. Our temps here have been about around 15° at night and right at freezing or below during the day. I took their secondbrooder light out and replaced with a 100w light bulb as I needed it for our frozen pipes. The chickens seem to enjoy the light that they've had since we've gotten them. But I didn't realize how much it cost to run two of those 24 hours a day! And, I'm reading that many of y'all don't heat your chicken coop at all. I'm not sure that I can just pull the plug all together. I feel like my chickens need some kind of heat, but how much? And how warm does the coop need to be? And at what daytime temperature do y'all think it would be ok to turn the lamps off and then cut back on at night? We are supposed to have 45° days, but 30° nights next week. Is that too cold to turn the heat off during the day and about an hour acter the sun starts setting (when I get home) turn them back on? And lastly...what do YOU use to heat your coop? I found some 50w red brooder bulbs on amazon which would pay for themselves in the first month.

 

[Pyxis]

Chickens do not need heat. In fact, adding heat is dangerous. There are two major dangers when adding heat. The first is fire. Those heat lamps are not really safe for use in coops unless they are hooked up properly, and even then there is still a risk. Tons of people every year burn down their coops and their chickens burn alive along with it.

The second major danger comes if you lose power, which is very possible during winter storms. The power goes out, the light goes out, and the chickens, who have not been able to acclimate to the cold weather, are suddenly plunged into temperatures far below what they are used to. This causes them to go into shock and die.

They do not need heat. Our temperature with wind chill yesterday was -30. The birds had no heat here, and their coop is entirely open on one side, and they are all fine.

The trouble is, yours are now used to heat, so you would need to wean them off it to be able to remove it. I would start by switching to a lower wattage bulb, which will drop the temperature, and then totally remove it during one of the 45 degree days you have coming up. Then don't add it back again for the rest of the winter.

 

[rjohns39]

Hi and welcome to BYC We're so happy you've decided to join us
What part of the world are you located in? Since they've had heat, you'll need to wean them off of it. What's the temp in their shelter now with the heat? When you have your 45/30* days, might be the opportunity to wean them off the heat. Birds are generally much more cold hardy than we are. Dry, draft free with plenty of ventilation are key to keeping them healthy over winter. In really cold climates, wider roosts are good so they can cover their feet with feathers to keep toes warm.

My birds have not gone into winter housing yet and have no heat. This morning it was 1* and one day last week it was -1* they stay snuggled up in their shelter until the sun comes out and then are off doing their chicken thing for the rest of the day. For winter, I'll move the breeders into the greenhouse and cover the non-breeders shelters with greenhouse film over the top, but not the ends. This time of year we have unpredictable heat snaps up into the 50s/60s and I've lost birds in the greenhouse at those temps. So I wait until we get to a solidly cold spell to make the move.

 

[CapricornFarm]

Everyone beware of teflon coated heat lamp bulbs, sold as shatter resistant bulbs. The fumes created are toxic and quickly kill birds! One family lost most of their flock last night!

 

[Blooie]

Two heat lamps in a dog house seems a bit excessive. Chickens generally seem to have more problems with excess heat than they do with the cold. I would agree with the others - now that you've acclimated them to the heat and the light, you'd have to wean them off if you wanted to discontinue the heat.

 

[davis2380]

I am glad that GraceLaneFamers asked this question. I have alittle heat in coop, I am in Colorado and we are up and down with temps. So I will try the no heat.

 

[lazy gardener]

First, that much heat is a recipe for a coop fire. Second, that small coop, unless very well ventilated is going to be very moist, almost sauna like. I bet the humidity in there is above 80*. That's a recipe for frost bite. Third, these birds have been acclimated to what is essentially an easy bake oven. It will take time to step them down to normal temps. I advise immediately stepping the heat down to 150 watts for a week or so, see how they respond to that, then decrease to 100 for a bit before discontinuing the heat altogether.

 

[GraceLaneFarms17]

Thank you for the responses everyone! We are first time chicken owners. And while most of the time TSC sells their birds in the Spring, we got ours from there mid-September. I reckon with having the heat lamp on them when they were chicks, we just never took it off of them. When we get more in the Spring, is there a better time/way to transition them off of it? I suppose this time around it will be warm being the Spring and going into the summer instead of the opposite so it may go smoother.

Anyways, we are located in Northern NC right above Raleigh, and about 30 minutes from the VA state line. We typically have cold weather but this year it has been cold and for a long time! Next week should be better for us though. It's about 20° outside right now with a feels like temp of 11°. We'll hit down to 8° tonight, high of 30° tomorrow, low of 18° tomorrow night and then jump to 50°s during the day and 30°s to 40°s at night, next week.

Given the cold temps tonight and through the weekend, should I remove the 250w brooder lamp tonight or wait til Monday morning? I would either keep the 100w regular lightbulb in there through the weekend OR the 250w brooder bulb.
I plan to turn the lamps off completely during the day next week. Should I keep a 60w or 100w regular bulb in there on Below or at freezing night temps? I want our chickens to have some kind of light - they're actually afraid of the dark.

 

[lazy gardener]

As long as you do not go from 250 - nothing in a single night, they should be ok. In your situation, I'd not worry at all unless the temp gets below 20*. For me, I'd welcome a 20* night, and consider myself blessed beyond all imaginings if such a thing were to occur before April!

The big issue for you is that your birds have been overheated since they were chicks. So, they've not had the chance to build up a down coat.

In the spring, when you get your chicks, I suggest that you ditch the heat lamp and switch to a heating pad cave style brooding system. @Blooie has an article and a thread addressing this wonderful, safe, natural system of brooding chicks. Do you have room for more birds? Minimum space requirements are 4 s.f. in coop and 10 s.f. in run per bird.

 

[GraceLaneFarms17]

First, that much heat is a recipe for a coop fire. Second, that small coop, unless very well ventilated is going to be very moist, almost sauna like. I bet the humidity in there is above 80*. That's a recipe for frost bite. Third, these birds have been acclimated to what is essentially an easy bake oven. It will take time to step them down to normal temps. I advise immediately stepping the heat down to 150 watts for a week or so, see how they respond to that, then decrease to 100 for a bit before discontinuing the heat altogether.

We have cut holes in the top of it at the back and then covered it with chicken wire to allow it to vent. It's about 4 foot deep and maybe 2 1/2" wide. It also has a door on the backside to access them from back there as well as on the side of the run. The pipe you see coming out is where we put their food into and then it runs down a chute. We also have it sitting on cinder blocks to keep the wood from rotting. Then where the run meets the house and there is that small "step up gap" we have it closed with chicken wire again to let that breathe as well. We have GOT to make their run bigger. This was totally their temp housing from when they were tiny - man they grew fast in 4 months.
We had planned to let them free range during the day while we were not home, and then at night train them with their food chute that at feeding time, they go back to their house for the night locked up from nighttime prey. However, a guy at the feed store talked me out of this stating that we should not let them roam unless we were home because of daytime predators - mostly hawks and such. Ideally, I would LOVE to let them free range during the day and then back to the coop at night. We have one chicken who refuses to move. I think something is wrong with its foot. So that is also keeping us from letting them all out. But otherwise we need a way to make this run bigger at minimal cost. Thoughts? With the time and cost of the wood, we would have been better off getting a chain link dog kennel.