How do you heat your coops

[Gifa]

I actually do a similar thing in the summer for some relief from the 100+ days... I freeze landscaping bricks overnight and set them out in a shady spot for them... They sure do love it. We used to set out oven baked bricks wrapped in towels for our bunnies when I was a kid... So, it's low tech... But it works.

 

[travl4me1]

I hadn't considered the opposite (freezing) for the dog days of summer. Good info. thx.

 

[Gifa]

Here's a link to a video I made when it was over 100 degrees in the summer of them up on the blocks.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10151940493040293

I am sure you could easily heat these kinds of bricks in the oven to get a similar radiant heater effect in a more manageable shape/size... You could probably even stack them a couple high to get even more thermal mass out of them.

 

[bruceha2000]

Glad I could share a cave mans way of taking the winter nip off a hen house.

Here's a link to a video I made when it was over 100 degrees in the summer of them up on the blocks.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10151940493040293

I am sure you could easily heat these kinds of bricks in the oven to get a similar radiant heater effect in a more manageable shape/size... You could probably even stack them a couple high to get even more thermal mass out of them.

Hey, someone is hogging the iced rock!

My only concern with heated rocks is that they might explode in the oven. Try explaining the bits of rock in their food to your guests

Obviously travl4me1 found one that was OK.

Just a caution to anyone who might want to make use of this low tech idea to help out the birds that are subjected to temps well below normal. Fire brick obviously would be fine as would, I suspect, would volcanic rock.

Bruce

 

[Gifa]

Hey, someone is hogging the iced rock!

My only concern with heated rocks is that they might explode in the oven. Try explaining the bits of rock in their food to your guests

Obviously travl4me1 found one that was OK.

Just a caution to anyone who might want to make use of this low tech idea to help out the birds that are subjected to temps well below normal. Fire brick obviously would be fine as would, I suspect, would volcanic rock.

Bruce

It's always a good idea to start a cold rock in a cold oven. Don't just take a cold rock and subject it to a 400 degree oven. It needs to ramp up with the oven...

Moisture is the other thing that can cause rocks or bricks to "explode" in high temps... and they don't so much explode as they do fracture, sometimes under enough pressure from steam to send a chip or two popping off.

If you are unsure about the safety of your rock, heat it to 170 degrees and hold it there for an hour or so before ramping it up above 200 degrees... This will allow any excess moisture to evaporate away slowly without hitting the boiling point and causing a high pressure situation in the rock. Once it's been dried successfully this way the first time, as long as it doesn't get excessively wet again, you won't need to preheat it like that again...

 

[bruceha2000]

It's always a good idea to start a cold rock in a cold oven. Don't just take a cold rock and subject it to a 400 degree oven. It needs to ramp up with the oven...

......

Bunch more detailed and helpful info

.......

You are a fountain of information Gifa!!

Bruce

 

[maryhysong]

I don't heat my coops. Full grown chickens have down coats and underwear and do not need any heat. They need DRY FRESH air without a direct draft. Right now I have portable coops with wire sides and bottoms. In the future I think I will build something similar to the Woods open air poultry house http://books.google.com/books?id=o0...&resnum=2&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

[Gifa]

You are a fountain of information Gifa!!

Bruce

I love to learn... I learn all kinds of things by being an artist... Sculpture and ceramics are actually geology, chemistry and physics classes. Painting and Drawing are Philosophy, psychology, physical education and brain science class as well as physical science classes...etc...

We're more left brained than you think.

 

[bruceha2000]

We're more left brained than you think.

"We're" meaning artists and NOT "you and me" because *I* have ZERO artistic talent. Apparently no right brain at all.

Bruce

 

[TonyDomino]

1

We do not use any light, my girls stopped laying for about 6 weeks then kick started with the egg laying all over again. We had five chickens and we got eggs from them pretty often but not consistent. I do not add light, but am thinking of it this year to keep the girls going since I see my production is down already and out of 6 birds got only 1 egg yesterday. I'm glad we had power added to the coop so we can add light. I'm seriously thinking about it. Just not sure at what times to set the timers yet.

14 hours minimum. I read that on BYC somewhere.