Alternative to Heating with lightbulbs

[galanie]

And besides all of the above excellent advice, it's day length that makes them lay in winter, not heat. 14 hours of light per day, which can be provided much easier than the heat lamps.

 

[ECBW]

Why 40* in particular? If you are set on maintaining it, insulation would make sense. You should also keep the coop buttoned up. Otherwise, you are just heating the great outdoor. 1250W is alot heat, and $, but will not keep a uninsulated drafty coop at any temperature.

 

[henpeckedmuch]

My very good friend Dorothy Jarvy from the upper Peninsular of Michigan where it often gets down to 30 degrees below 0, and stays that way had a small flock of chickens. They lived in the old airy barn, and sometimes even in the dead of winter would get out for a breath for fresh air. She fed and watered them every day. She had to knock out the ice from the water dish every day because they had no artificial heat sources, no lamps, no insulation, no heat wires in the barn. The last chicken died a few years ago, it was very sad, I believe they said she was only 18 yrs old.

 

[OldChurchEggery1]

A lot of the posts here reminded me of something I read in my cattle health handbook. Dairy cattle begin to exhibit signs of heat distress at 70-75 degrees depending on humidity levels. What we humans think of as a "comfortable" temperature is very different from what animals consider comfortable. As others have suggested, build or buy a real coop and let your birds tough it out. I've never lost a bird to the cold, even when they chose to sleep on their outdoor roosts in January. If they've got a dry place to sleep where they can keep their feet tucked under them, the only think you have to worry about is frostbite on combs and a little Vaseline takes care of that.

 

[ReiMiraa]

Thank you for the ideas.

Its all really for my parents and boyfriend to know. they feel bad to have them cold.....

I just want a few heat sources for them to dry off after a rainy day and for the ones who are lacking feathers....

I am hoping i can get them to realize. don't have the money right now to build a coop. tractors and other equipment keeps breaking and needing replacement. chickens are a low priority on making a building for...

the other year i used 9mil poly to wrap the coop, parents used tyvek last winter. i suppose its just what is cheaper.
the 'roof' are large 3 inch treated plywood thrown on top with a slight slant. 3 of the coops are under trees so do not get much of a snow load... but we always scrape it off. had some metal roofing on one not sure if it is still there... i think it is. threw tires on it to keep the wind from blowing it.

I been wanting to make something out of our apple bins or pallets... but its not as easy. i keep thinking pallets stuffed with straw would work... but then there is the mice and mold issue....

 

[ChooksChick]

Quote:
Most of my coops are made of 2x4s split into 2x2s, with 2 sides hardware cloth and 2 sides thin plywood. They are elevated 18" and I put heavy litter on the bottom of the floor, 6mil clear plastic over the hardware cloth. They do fine, unheated. The coops warm up during the day like a greenhouse.

They are cheap to build that way.