Best Heat Lamp for a small coop

[Allisonlovesnancy]

We have a small coop with only four egg laying hens that get along well; but they are getting very cold because we are in Michigan and Michigan winters are brutal. What would be the best way to heat their coop so I don't wake up to my girls burnt to the ground or frozen like an icicle?

 

[sylviethecochin]

How brutal are Michigan winters and what type of chickens do you have?

My standard hens (RIR, EE, BR, Australorp, leghorn, among others and various mixes thereof) have roosted through -30 for several successive nights in their uninsulated coop and been completely fine. Hens have an inch and a half of fluffy feather coat to protect them. Make sure that the coop is dry (ventilated) but no drafts (ventilation is not from two opposite directions so that wind can't come straight through.)

My OEG bantams live in the unheated, uninsulated barn, and I've never lost one of them to cold either.

 

[Allisonlovesnancy]

How brutal are Michigan winters and what type of chickens do you have?

My standard hens (RIR, EE, BR, Australorp, leghorn, among others and various mixes thereof) have roosted through -30 for several successive nights in their uninsulated coop and been completely fine. Hens have an inch and a half of fluffy feather coat to protect them. Make sure that the coop is dry (ventilated) but no drafts (ventilation is not from two opposite directions so that wind can't come straight through.)

My OEG bantams live in the unheated, uninsulated barn, and I've never lost one of them to cold either.

we have two golden laced wyandottes, an australorp, and an ameraucana; egg laying hens. Michigan is lots of snow and ice plus freezing temperatures all the time

 

[JackE]

The best heatlamp for a coop? NO heatlamp at all, is best. Back in the day, they were keeping chickens in large open-air coops, in -40F temps. They don't need any help from us, to stay warm. They are built to handle the cold. Especially the breeds you have. Give them a well ventilated, dry coop, and they will be fine.

 

[sylviethecochin]

we have two golden laced wyandottes, an australorp, and an ameraucana; egg laying hens. Michigan is lots of snow and ice plus freezing temperatures all the time

They'll be fine. The constancy of the weather will actually help--they'll be adjusted to the cold. Cold air on the hen's skin actually stimulates the growth of more feathers, so if she gets cold, she makes more feathers. Though PA weather is considered fairly mild if you live on either of the southern corners. I live in mid-PA(near Dubois) We have brutal winters too. Every winter, my chickens are fine. I actually had bantam peeps running around outside, last week, in 15* temps.

The best heatlamp for a coop? NO heatlamp at all, is best. Back in the day, they were keeping chickens in large open-air coops, in -40F temps. They don't need any help from us, to stay warm. They are built to handle the cold. Especially the breeds you have. Give them a well ventilated, dry coop, and they will be fine.

x2.

 

[Allisonlovesnancy]

The best heatlamp for a coop? NO heatlamp at all, is best. Back in the day, they were keeping chickens in large open-air coops, in -40F temps. They don't need any help from us, to stay warm. They are built to handle the cold. Especially the breeds you have. Give them a well ventilated, dry coop, and they will be fine.

would a panel heater be fine?

 

[JackE]

Outside of something to keep their water de-iced, You DO NOT need a heater, at all. Don't put your limitations with the cold, on a chicken. Like I said, they are built to handle the cold.

 

[lilmillefleur]

Just make sure you have good insulation, ventilation and no drafts, and you should be fine.

 

[Sublight]

I just left a thread where a guys coop burnt down. Those chickens are fine.

Think of it this way. You know that redbird that lives in your tree? It survives fine.
Your chickens are bigger, so they retain heat better.
Your chickens don't live in a tree where the wind is worse.
Your chickens have something to block the wind.

 

[MillersFarm]

If the chickens get real' cold at night you could try a heated roost.. Most of the time when people put heat lamps in coops it'll ended up burning down the chicken coop.