How do you heat your coops

[Flip1ky]

Newby here - I am planning a solar can heater for my small coops.... I am thinking of adding a center pipe to each row and filling it with water (to hold the heat longer) Also adding brick backing. My hope is to automate the heat so the fan shuts down at 40 degrees. If we didnt move the tractor daily I would go with more thermal mass. Also using a block with a light bulb for the water heater with a concrete base to also help add some heat.

So Yes I am heating (when temp drops below 30f)

Flip

 

[karlamaria]

Something I've brought up before, I wish people on both sides of the heat/no heat discussion would add a little bit of very relevant info- how many birds to you have?

If you have 25 chickens in an insulated, ventilated coop with no supplemental heat, the 25 bodies will produce a lot of heat. If you only have 3 or 4 chickens, the heat their bodies produce is much less. So, perhaps with a similar breed and similar coop construction, the answer that is correct for the flock of 25 might not be correct for a flock of 3 or 4. Is anyone here housing less than a half dozen chickens without heat in an area with -0 degrees F temps?

As to chickens surviving well the past few hundred years, maybe that is why they like to congregate in large groups- the loners may have died off from the cold, while the gregarious ones thrived. Just speculation... meanwhile, don't shoot someone down for using a different solution when you don't know the size of their flock.

. Great questions! I have a large coop and only 12 birds so I add a heat lamp at 0 degrees . Why ? Because I do not stuff my coop full of birds and there not the heat mass a lot of birds can make. I put a heat lamp at Zero and below for this fact. Never had problems, my girls are well over the winters and I will continue to add a heat lamp to keep the bitter cold away.

 

[OldGuy43]

I was once told that, "Advice is like wine. It affects you only if you take it."

Personally, I could care less if you heat, cool, humidify, dehumidify, install a hepa filter, or give your flock all mink coats. I just don't care what you do. Why should I? They're your responsibility, not mine. I've offered my best advice based on my experience and research. What you do with that advice is your business. I see no reason to argue with those with different ideas, nor to defend my own.

Go in peace.

It could be worse. You could be keeping elephants.

 

[Going Quackers]

I do think sizing of your flocks does play a roll to some extent, mind you my big hens are only 4 and they have done fine with no heat. I am curious to see how the fluff buckets do(silkies) we have 3 small flocks of them, those i worry more about. I do feel getting birds that are touted as "cold hardy" helps a lot in this debate. Some breeds simply don't weather(winter) as well.

 

[280lady]

It's just started to get cold here in maryland -- into the 30's and maybe 20s at night. I have a small raised coop with 3 hens. I've stacked up straw bales on 3 sides and am keeping the door open and a vent cracked -- but I still worry about them. We don't have electricity down there. What would you think of using those hand warmer things on nights when it really gets cold?

 

[Hokum Coco]

Spam
Deleted

 

[Rooster Rules]

It's just started to get cold here in maryland -- into the 30's and maybe 20s at night. I have a small raised coop with 3 hens. I've stacked up straw bales on 3 sides and am keeping the door open and a vent cracked -- but I still worry about them. We don't have electricity down there. What would you think of using those hand warmer things on nights when it really gets cold?

Hi, don't worry your babies will be fine, they grow a nice down jacket for winter weather. Keep an eye on conditions, allow the coop to vent, close things up more in the obvious, snow storms and high winds.
Marylands weather is far more temperate than here or places nearby, like ND and Minn.
You most likely see 0 f once in a while in winter, they can handle it, in a nice dry coop, and together they will be huddled on there roosts.
Provide quality food, fresh water, keep it from freezing, and all will be well in your world.................the Rooster Rules

 

[Bogtown Chick]

It's just started to get cold here in maryland -- into the 30's and maybe 20s at night. I have a small raised coop with 3 hens. I've stacked up straw bales on 3 sides and am keeping the door open and a vent cracked -- but I still worry about them. We don't have electricity down there. What would you think of using those hand warmer things on nights when it really gets cold?

If you have standard cold hardy breeds they will be just fine at those temps. I would make sure the coop is also ventilated well in that small space which it sounds like you are doing. The hand warmer things wont be needed. They'll need a little roost to cover their feet with their warm downy feathers, though.

 

[SunnySkies]

It's just started to get cold here in maryland -- into the 30's and maybe 20s at night.  I have a small raised coop with 3 hens.  I've stacked up straw bales on 3 sides and am keeping the door open and a vent cracked -- but I still worry about them.  We don't have electricity down there.  What would you think of using those hand warmer things on nights when it really gets cold?

I live in MD. I do not heat. Ever. They will be fine. As long as they don't have a draft blowing directly on them, they can keep themselves warm. Mine were strolling around in the snow last winter.

The fire risk to me is too huge to even consider heating.

Plus....I used to use blankets and a warm barn to keep horses from growing in a full coat. Why would I do that to a chicken?

 

[Cass]

It's just started to get cold here in maryland -- into the 30's and maybe 20s at night. I have a small raised coop with 3 hens. I've stacked up straw bales on 3 sides and am keeping the door open and a vent cracked -- but I still worry about them. We don't have electricity down there. What would you think of using those hand warmer things on nights when it really gets cold?

You can do what you want with your money, but Stonykill (a friend on this forum) has part of his flock of chickens that NEVER come inside anything. They live in the trees on his property and come down to eat and drink.