My story of finding and building the best heater

[Liz Birdlover]

Sorry don't mean to go off topic...ya know when we get talking chickens

 

[Birdinhand]

I have been noodling over this topic for quite some time. I hyper insulated my home and and made many habitats for my kids critters. Our first incubator was made from an old cooler. My coop fires and poor chick health lead me to follow the “mother heating pad” approach, even for raising 40 Cornish cross at a time. I’ve explored about every aspect of heating I can imagine.

I’ve learned a couple things about heat… mainly that we mostly think about air temperature when we think of heat but rarely do you hear people talk about how a warm object is actually radiating infra red/radiant heat, that can travel quite a distance through the air. The reason this is important is that a warm blooded animal radiates a lot of heat that can, relatively easily, be reflected back at it using foil coated poli iso insulation… that fancy stuff you see at Home Depot or lowes. Its value is not well reflected in the R-rating system, and is poorly understood by most consumers, being much more useful than people realize for creating creature comfort. I used it in my kids rooms and it’s so effective that after you sit in a spot for a bit it begins reflecting heat back at you (in rays of light you can’t see/far red infra red). I’ve since used it in making heated enclosures for reptiles.

What would I do for a dog house? I’d build the dog house from scratch out of 2x4’s, cut panels of poli iso about a half an inch smaller than the spaces between studs and use spray foam to seal the edges to the wood, I’d use the insulation with the reflective foil, pointing to the inside, using a thin laminate for the inside walls just enough to protect the insulation. On the curling I’d also use 2”+ reflective insulation and leave it unprotected to maximize the radiant heat reflection from the dog. Id consider creating what they can a thermal dam across the entrance, requiring the dog to walk up some steps to get inside, having the outside opening lower than the entrance… a little hard to explain, basically it’s a way to trap warm air, keep it from escaping, but still allowing in some fresh air. Make the dog house just large enough for the dog to be comfortable curled up… the less air space you have the more it will retain heat. Depending on the dog, that might be all you need to do. If that’s not enough I’d buy a large under tank heater, the kind that peels and sticks, have a 1/4” piece of glass cut to its size for thermal mass and attach the tank heater to it, and mount the heater/glass to the ceiling. If you want to get fancy with a thermostat, you can buy one of those thermostats for sprout tray heaters, that has a metal thermostat probe you can move around and test. I use a laser temp gun to fail things like this in.

There you go, that’s my hyper over thought way to keep a dog house heated economically through cold winter nights. Any other approach I’ve found to heating is wildly wasteful and expensive in terms of energy consumption. If you do it right the first time you’ll save a lot of money on electric bills over the long haul.

 

[Dim2000]

The best feature would be the ability to directly wire to a battery. I have no electricity in my coop, so I have solar panels and batteries. A converter eats electricity, so it's so much better to be able to wire directly to 12v DC power.

A water heater like that would also be appreciated, by quite a few people, I think.

Unfortunately, in a cold place like ours - solar and batteries will not be reliable: battery will need to be charged again and again, and solar is not enough, both sun-vise and power-vise. Thus is cold places it is better to rout an electrical supply to the coop. However - it is easier to set up a small generator to produce power near the coop and refill it each time, it will work when electricity is not available at all.

 

[Debbie292d]

Unfortunately, in a cold place like ours - solar and batteries will not be reliable: battery will need to be charged again and again, and solar is not enough, both sun-vise and power-vise. Thus is cold places it is better to rout an electrical supply to the coop. However - it is easier to set up a small generator to produce power near the coop and refill it each time, it will work when electricity is not available at all.

Plus, where are these batteries stored? We get a few weeks of -20 to -40F here. I love solar, but it's not going to be efficient at all in the winter months when it would be needed the most.

 

[Dim2000]

Plus, where are these batteries stored? We get a few weeks of -20 to -40F here. I love solar, but it's not going to be efficient at all in the winter months when it would be needed the most.

Plus the efficiency is reduced during the cold, agree.

 

[Dim2000]

Hi guys, I was wondering today: how come I started to think about having my own chickens?. Afterall it is all started from engineering the perfect heater for my dog, and now - after taking a nice journey and having so much communication with backyard chicken owners, farmers, and hobby farmers - I suddenly understood - I would like to have my own chickens . Before I share my reasons for having them, I would like to ask you, guys, what was your story, why at the beginning you thought about having chickens, why it is important to you now and in future?

 

[Debbie292d]

Just have always had them anytime I lived in the country. Started with meat chickens when I was growing up on the farm, had a hobby farm out in ND for a few years and had banties, then a few decades go by and as of 7-8 years ago we're back in the country again so, chickens!! Guess no real reason except a love for birds.

 

[Dim2000]

Just have always had them anytime I lived in the country. Started with meat chickens when I was growing up on the farm, had a hobby farm out in ND for a few years and had banties, then a few decades go by and as of 7-8 years ago we're back in the country again so, chickens!! Guess no real reason except a love for birds.

Some people , whom I spoke with, like having a coffee time in a cozy chicken coop - they (the chickens of course) are very comforting . I wonder what makes you keep them, and not just enjoy wild birds?

 

[Debbie292d]

Some people , whom I spoke with, like having a coffee time in a cozy chicken coop - they (the chickens of course) are very comforting . I wonder what makes you keep them, and not just enjoy wild birds?

We have a plethora of wild birds and buy BOSS (black oil sunflower seeds) from TSC, Walmart, or a farmer, in 40# bags. We go through about 1 bag in two weeks.

No particular reason we wanted chickens other than they are cool walking around our yard. We have the most gorgeous moving yard ornaments!

 

[triciayoung]

Some people , whom I spoke with, like having a coffee time in a cozy chicken coop - they (the chickens of course) are very comforting . I wonder what makes you keep them, and not just enjoy wild birds?

Chickens are very different than birds. I understand they are birds, but they are more so farm animals. They are extremely intelligent with different personalities, and their antics are hilarious. My husband wanted chickens for eggs and meat. After our chicks arrived, it took me about 5-seconds to inform him that the eggs will be nice, but not important; and we will never eat our chickens.