How do you heat your coops

[featherz]

I've got a pile of leghorn pullets that are roosting just under the roof of one of my coops.. they are right next to large wide open ventilation areas covered with hardware cloth - and it was -14 here as a low today. They are all fine and are up there again tonight staring down at me.. I'd prefer they roost with everyone else, but /shrug..

Oh, and my coop has windows and a run that's got the nasty frozen ground covered with pine chips so they get to go out in the nice frigid weather (which they do)..

I do have heated water bowls, but that's for MY convenience =) ..

Never tried it myself, but have seen issues with wrapping coops in plastic - just make sure the humidity stays low in there! No frostbite here yet, checked every bird tonight and all is well.

Only time I ever had frostbite in my crappy built by us coops with no heat, etc is when it was -25+ and the leghorns were getting their combs in the water by accident.. healed up eventually, all was well..

.02

 

[karlamaria]

M coop is not wrapped in plastic, my pen is done nicely. ( you can see my pictures ) and the pen has an opening above where the coop meets pen and we left that top part open for ventilation.so with ventilation over the pen, and above in the coop, I have never ever had frost bite.

 

[Gifa]

Yeah, I've got the enclosure wrapped in clear tarps, all but the bottom 12 inches. This sheds moisture and deflects about 90% of the wind, while still allowing sun and fresh air in.... Their coop is otherwise fully ventilated. Still, 7 hens manage to keep the interior space of their 5x5x5 coop about 5 degrees above the outside temp at 49-55% humidity... It's gotten down to 8 degrees here a few times, and every morning, they're tearing around their enclosure as soon as the door opens.

 

[dominiques]

Mine are getting frostbite on their combs. Coop is not heated but since its a stall in a barn, there are no drafts. But it's cold! Doing deep litter method. 6 hens in a 9x12 coop. I leave the top of the 1/2 door open a few cm during night for ventilation but the door is in a barn so air gets in but no wind. I leave a waterer in at all times, and a very knowledgable friend said its ok. Thoughts? I have Dominique's and the ones with the small rose combs are fine. But two have larger combs and they are the ones with black on their tips. I do put Vaseline on them too.

 

[Hokum Coco]

I had the same problem with a Delaware Rooster in my coop last year. I just let mother nature run it's course. He still has points this winter but they are not as large. No problems thus far but winter is not a month old yet.

 

[bruceha2000]

Mine are getting frostbite on their combs. Coop is not heated but since its a stall in a barn, there are no drafts. But it's cold! Doing deep litter method. 6 hens in a 9x12 coop. I leave the top of the 1/2 door open a few cm during night for ventilation but the door is in a barn so air gets in but no wind. I leave a waterer in at all times, and a very knowledgable friend said its ok. Thoughts?

Pictures?
How 'not drafty' is the barn?
What do you have over the parts of the coop that were open when it was a stall?
What sort of ceiling?

I don't have any good pictures showing what my coop looks like from a "winter protection" aspect. But I'll describe as best I can:
- The space above the chicken door is covered in clear plastic as is the entire people door.
- The space above the plywood to the left and right are wire only.
- The sides (one of which you see through the people door are covered with clear plastic to 1' below the top.
- The back is wood, the other side is the upper part of the barn.
- The space between the floor joists for the floor above is wire only.

So, theorectically, any moisture can escape over the plastic covered walls, along the ceiling or out through the front. I've seen only a bit of frostbite on the wattles of my Anconas, I presume from water drops while drinking. No problem with the HUGE combs.




Bruce

 

[travl4me1]

This may sound foolish or crazy, but my cochins have appeared rather cold and sluggish the past few mornings. Upper 20's and lots of rain/ice. My coop is not insulated but the wind stays off of them, and I close all the doors in the overnight to hopefully keep their own heat in. They fuel up on scratch just before roosting each night.

I have no real easy access to run power to my tractor coop and prefer not to.

Yesterday morning, I grabbed a limestone rock. Fairly flat, fairly wide. Think Giant Porterhouse steak size. It was numbingly cold on my hands as I carried it back to the house. I washed it and put it on a pan. I asked my wife to include it in the oven when she was cooking dinner that night, and just leave oven ON until I got home. (I'm used to strange looks)

It was 450 degrees baked for approx 90 mins. I carefully removed rock from the oven and I wrapped it in an old beach towel, several times over. I could carry it with my bare hands at that point, but hot. I placed on the floor of the hen house, at the back of the coop. The chix roost above and forward in the coop. I did move the pine shavings away so my towel rock sat on a bare part of sand floor.

Closed up the doors at 7 p.m.. Just before going to sleep at 11, I checked it again, and it was still extrememly hot to the towel touch. My hand felt a big difference in temp when I reached it. The air wasn't hot, but it was more tolearable than normal. I would guess I raised the ambient temp an easy 10 degrees inside.

This morning it was basically cold again, so it did slowly taper off, as I expected. The rise and fall of temp may be tougher on them overall, but it was a slow and mild rise and fall, so I guess not. The bigger the rock, the hotter the bake, probably the longer it sustains heat.

It may seem like a lot of unnecesary work, but it was rather easy considering my oven runs nearly every evening, and I felt better knowing I tried to make their night easier. It's also dry heat and no moisture is created, and I can't see any logical fire hazard. I basically made a giant "hot hands" warmer that radiated heat a big part of the night.

Call me crazy, but they seemed much more perky and happy coming out of the coop this a.m. when I opened the door.

Nights in the 20's are cold for our region and fairly uncommon, as is snow or ice. So you folks in PA, NY, Canada and Alaska can get a good laugh here, but it's a simple idea on whatever you consider to be a "harsher than normal" night, and have no power in your coop.

 

[karlamaria]

I think that's awesome you added the warm rock, I'm sure it heated the coop well for them quit a while . Maybe if you put it on something like a brick it will stay warmer for longer, ? Cool idea !

 

[Cass]

This may sound foolish or crazy, but my cochins have appeared rather cold and sluggish the past few mornings. Upper 20's and lots of rain/ice. My coop is not insulated but the wind stays off of them, and I close all the doors in the overnight to hopefully keep their own heat in. They fuel up on scratch just before roosting each night.

I have no real easy access to run power to my tractor coop and prefer not to.

Yesterday morning, I grabbed a limestone rock. Fairly flat, fairly wide. Think Giant Porterhouse steak size. It was numbingly cold on my hands as I carried it back to the house. I washed it and put it on a pan. I asked my wife to include it in the oven when she was cooking dinner that night, and just leave oven ON until I got home. (I'm used to strange looks)

It was 450 degrees baked for approx 90 mins. I carefully removed rock from the oven and I wrapped it in an old beach towel, several times over. I could carry it with my bare hands at that point, but hot. I placed on the floor of the hen house, at the back of the coop. The chix roost above and forward in the coop. I did move the pine shavings away so my towel rock sat on a bare part of sand floor.

Closed up the doors at 7 p.m.. Just before going to sleep at 11, I checked it again, and it was still extrememly hot to the towel touch. My hand felt a big difference in temp when I reached it. The air wasn't hot, but it was more tolearable than normal. I would guess I raised the ambient temp an easy 10 degrees inside.

This morning it was basically cold again, so it did slowly taper off, as I expected. The rise and fall of temp may be tougher on them overall, but it was a slow and mild rise and fall, so I guess not. The bigger the rock, the hotter the bake, probably the longer it sustains heat.

It may seem like a lot of unnecesary work, but it was rather easy considering my oven runs nearly every evening, and I felt better knowing I tried to make their night easier. It's also dry heat and no moisture is created, and I can't see any logical fire hazard. I basically made a giant "hot hands" warmer that radiated heat a big part of the night.

Call me crazy, but they seemed much more perky and happy coming out of the coop this a.m. when I opened the door.

Nights in the 20's are cold for our region and fairly uncommon, as is snow or ice. So you folks in PA, NY, Canada and Alaska can get a good laugh here, but it's a simple idea on whatever you consider to be a "harsher than normal" night, and have no power in your coop.

No, I'm not going to call you crazy. I think you have hit upon a wonderful idea for those who live in normally warmer climates that are facing a few nights of colder than normal temperatures. Your chickens haven't had the time to get ready for cold weather, like those who live in further north areas. I wouldn't want to carry a rock down every single night from Late November to mid-March....but for a few nights, I would do it, if my birds were suffering from cold.

"They" say that one single candle can raise the tempurature in your car 8 degrees in an hour...which is why "they" say to have a few candles in our car in the winter in case you break down and car isn't able to run to keep you warm.

Now here in Upstate NY,I haven't even closed my pop doors yet....I only do that when the night time temps get below zero. (Pop door opens on very secure run area, not directly to outdoors. Please no "predator" comments necessary. I have never lost a bird to a walking predator, only hawks)

 

[travl4me1]

I opened coop door at 6 am (still dark and overcast) and 3 were in the nest boxes laying and 3 were huddled on the rock. Generally they are still roosted. I guess as it cooled down, they got closer to it.

I always check on them when I get home from work regardless, and the oven runs 6 out of 7 weeks a nights at our house anyways, so its not inconvenient. I probably wouldn't consider doing this above 30 degrees. For whatever reason, I take pity on them in the 20's or below.

I reckon I'll come home one night and my wife will have served up a big rock on my dinner plate, but I will probably of deserved that.

This site has given me knowledge and understanding beyond belief. Glad I could share a cave mans way of taking the winter nip off a hen house.