A warning from a firefighter about winter heating....

[patandchickens]

I'd be interested in their suggestions for a more secure set-up.

Definitely it sometimes is necessarily in life to run a lamp, and the general program you describe (attach it by two different points on the lamp to two different points on the coop in a sturdy way) is certainly the beginning of a safe setup (well, as safe possible anyhow, nothing in life is totally guaranteed safe, certainly not heatlamps

)

What you (WoodlandWoman) have doubtless done as well, but which many people neglect or knowingly cheat on (and sometimes get to meet their local firefighters over), is to make sure the guard is on the lamp to reduce chances of chicken impact and so that if it *should* fall it won't lie directly flat on the floor; carefully obey the required clearances IN ALL DIRECTIONS between lamp and combustibles (with high wattage lamps this can mean having it 18" above any bedding and at least as far from any walls or ceilings or brooder lids; use as low a wattage as possible (often just plain lightbulbs are quite adequate, especially if you've got everything set up intelligently); in some circumstances, you can use two half-wattage bulbs rather than one high-wattage one, to give the same total watts of heat with less fire hazard; and of course as soon as you don't absolutely HAVE to have that lamp on anymore, turn the lamp off and remove it.

Really there are an awful lot of design features that can greatly reduce the wattage one needs to be running (sometimes to 'less', sometimes to 'not use lamp at all'). I wish people would do them more often. (Directed at the world in general, not WW in particular

)

Pat​

 

[iluvmichickens]

So I'm curious GottaLuvChicks, what have you done so far for heat this Winter?

It's below zero at night here and I'm getting a little nervous especially since it'll get much colder. But so far, no heat and everything is fine!

 

[pontoosuc]

Great post. Thank you.

What is the consensus on poultry water heater bases? You know the kind that go under
the metal water founts??

 

[elmo]

To cover the bulb in a clamp lamp, here's a better designed cover than the "X" style ones with only two wires:

http://www.petmountain.com/product//11442-505017/zoo-med-clamp-lamp-safety-cover.html

Of course you still need to wipe the dust off the bulb regularly, but with a cover like this there's no way a chicken would be able to come in contact with the bulb itself.

 

[elmo]

I'd appreciate a critique of my heating set up.

First of all, let me say that I wouldn't be using any supplemental heat if I didn't have a breed of bantam known to be sensitive to cold (Serama crosses), or if we didn't have sudden and extreme temperature shifts in winter. One night the low could be in the mid sixties and the next night down to freezing (that happened last month!).

I have an oil filled Delonghi radiator set on stepping stones inside a large bird cage with stepping stones set on top (to keep droppings from falling into the radiator from above, and also to make it impossible for the cage to be knocked over). The radiator is set on its lowest setting, and I've monitored it to make sure that nothing around the radiator, or indeed the radiator itself, gets too hot to touch. I only turn the radiator on only at night when freezing or near freezing temperatures are predicted, and I turn it off in the morning. I wipe down the radiator every few days to keep down the accumulation of dust and check everything over. I use sand, rather than shavings, on the floor of my coop, so that's less of a fire risk, too.

I have a heavy duty extension cord threaded through a small hole in the coop wall plugged in to a GFCI outlet on the corner of our garage. When the radiator is not in use, it's unplugged, and I coil the cord and store it under the coop eave. I inspect the cord every time I plug it in, too.

I have a remote temperature gauge inside the coop. With my coop's insulation, this heating set up has been keeping the coop about 10 - 15 degrees warmer than the outside temperature.

I realize no heating set up is without risk, but I've tried to minimize those risks as much as possible.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

I like having something non-flammable under heated bases or heated water bowls. We use things like cinder blocks and concrete stepping stones. Some people have the water outside, but our coop has electric, so ours is inside.

 

[jake20025]

to keep the water here from freezing for the chickens i use a 5 gallon bucket and a fish tank heater and just make sure u fill the bucket daily and it works great never froze at all last year

 

[Crabella]

PLEASE please go down to your local store and get a bucket heater designed for this! A fish tank heater is NOT a good idea! I cannot stress this enough. They can and Do break. Imagine being in a hurry one morning and pouring fresh water onto a live electrical line... Saftey first. The bucket heater does not cost that much more than a fish tank heater.
Everytime I see someone on here talking about using an aquarium heater for this is scares the ...... out of me.

 

[BlackBrookPoultry]

I don't keep water in my coop at all. I use one of those rubber bowls outside and fill it every morning. The ducks keep the water from freezing all day (by playing in it). On very cold days the chickens don't like leaving the coop so I'll put a dish of water in there. I used to use a heated dog dish and it worked great. But if I don't have to run an extension cord all the way out there why would I? Also, if I had water in there at night the ducks would make a huge mess. I'd have lots of frozen straw on the floor.

I do occasionally have a 250W heat lamp on. It's chained (with the extra chain from my chandelier) to the rafters and I use those clips for climbing to attach it in two spots. I only use it when the temp is below zero. I have some 2 month old hens in there that I worry about. Otherwise, when I have all adults it has to be -20 before I'll supplement heat. Reading this is reminding me that I need to go out there and clean the dust off that bulb before I use it again. Next week is going to be COLD here.

 

[EMAW]

Quote:
Nice Job--the only thing that I might do is put some kind of guard like a 1x10 or 1x12 around the bottom of all 4 sides of the cage. This would make it more difficult for the chickens to kick something onto the radiator, but that is me just looking for something to critque because you asked.

I think you may have created the safest way to heat a coop, if you must heat the coop during the winter.

Good luck and I may steal your idea/plans in the future.