Best Heat Lamp for a small coop

[lazy gardener]

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.

While heat lamps pose a risk, and are not recommended in the majority of situations, the above statement is an exaggeration. Yes, heat lamps are a huge risk. But, they do not cause a coop to burn down MOST OF THE TIME. But, even one coop burning down is one coop too many.

What are the exact dimensions of your coop? L x W x H? The smaller the coop, the greater the risk of adding heat. Especially if you are talking about a heat lamp.

 

[JackE]

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

Other than insulating the underside of a roof, to help with summertime heat, insulation is USELESS in a chicken coop. What good does insulation do, if the coop is properly ventilated/open, to the outside? It's not like your house, with all the windows and doors shut, and insulation in the walls to keep the heat, generated from the furnace in. A coop is purposely open, to the outside. (Or, at least it should be).

 

[lazy gardener]

Point well made, Jack!

 

[speckledhen]

To say they can handle the cold and not make any exceptions is a bit too generalized. They can handle the cold, yes, if you have good up-high ventilation to off-gas moisture and deep dry bedding, however, roosters with large combs may get frostbite which affects fertility (less likely the drier it is) and very elderly hens such as I have will suffer more in extreme cold. Also, if they are butt-naked with no feathers from a hard molt, that is an exception.

Many do not have hens the age of mine. I have quite a few old ladies-by old, I mean 9, 10 and almost 11 yrs old-with severe arthritis who cannot roost-two have lost the use of one leg to severe, advanced arthritis (one still lays). Those two are in a cage off the ground with one reptile bulb over them and deep hay. There are some others who limp badly and may soon be in the same position who also have reptile bulbs for a heat spot, but the coop is not heated, per se. That would be an issue if power goes out and they are used to a warm space-we've already had two power outages, but mine are not used to "warm", only a place to go under if they need a little time to de-chill. The bulb I mean is a 100w black night heat bulb, only heats a small area and is secured well with a hardware wire guard and/or top of wire so it cannot fall into the hay. I also have one of the no-light ceramic heat emitters in one spot for another bird who is recovering from an injury. I see no reason to make them suffer for a principal. JMHO.

Other than the few exceptions, if you have a properly ventilated coop with deep bedding, and the birds are generally healthy and full feathered, they will do okay in Michigan cold.

 

[Sublight]

I have often wondered if you could warm it by stapeling black garbage bags to the walls. Its EZ, quick and cheap. Black absorbs heat. It wont warm it a LOT, but it should have some effect, and it probably costs 5 bucks for a roll of yard bags.
And by the way, unless its a really big coop, your chickens body heat keeps it warmer then the outside air. All of my chickens roost close to each other, im sure for that reason. They know what to do.

 

[JackE]

The coldest we have had here, not including any windchill, is -10F. The whole front wall of my coop is wide open (Covered only with hardware cloth), at chicken level. So, you can have low ventilation. None of my birds have ever suffered from frostbite. I have had birds over the years, go through a hard molt, where they are practically barea$$ed, and they seem to go on like it's no problem at all. They even go outside. The oldest bird I have is almost 9. But I guess she's in good shape, no limping. She doesn't seem to care about the winter temps. These birds are a lot tougher than people think.

 

[lazy gardener]

Jack, I love your coop.

 

[speckledhen]

......... The oldest bird I have is almost 9. But I guess she's in good shape, no limping. She doesn't seem to care about the winter temps. These birds are a lot tougher than people think.

That they are, Jack. I've loved your coop for years, I must say. We've had temps that low here in the N. GA mountains. Just had a rare early bout of cold with wind chills at 5*, which I'd expect later in the season. We've had actual temps at zero with wind chills -10 to -15 at our elevation (just under 2000 ft). Power was out for a few hours two days in a row with a fairly large snowfall for us here. If it had stayed out and the temps had been worse than they were, the old, severely arthritic hens may have ended up in my livingroom, but then again, maybe not. From being in my grandfather's hay loft, I know how warm you can be hunkered down in the hay! It's bad if they are used to being slightly warmer and then, the power is out and no way you can help them other than packing in the hay/straw. No one should be actually heating their entire coops. That's really doing the birds a disservice, I think. It's all about what they are acclimated to, IMO. So, don't get them used to being actually "warm".

The ones I would never think about providing any heat spot for are the Brahmas. They are completely made for cold weather, small pea combs and no wattles to dip into freezing water, plus their own built-in leg warmers, and they are also very large birds as well, loosely feathered in the underfluff. It helps if folks get breeds that are good for their climate as well. My little Belgian D'Anvers who weigh from 17-22 oz, would not do as well as some other breeds at -25* that we had in Ohio, though they have pea combs and bearded faces.

 

[speckledhen]

Adding that if a bird has impaired circulation as my late Delaware rooster, Isaac, did, from severe arthritis, they are more prone to frostbite in their feet, even if their combs are fine. He would occasionally fall off the roost because of his stiff hock joints, just lost his balance, and would not make it back up and would sleep on the floor. One winter, I was not aware he had fallen and he slept on the floor at 2* with wind chills way in the negative numbers. We had good bedding, but the coop was raised and air could blow under the coop. Isaac got frostbitten feet, though his comb was perfectly fine. That made me not think it was frostbite at first, never saw frostbitten feet on a bird of mine, and no one else had any issues. The coops were very dry with good high up ventilation. I know it was because of his bad circulation. He lost two toe ends though we doctored him up and took care of him, but he did okay after that.

Our barn now is directly on the ground with raised floor inside, so no wind underneath at all. We have five windows, two on the high weather side and three on the opposite side that are always cracked, plus a roll up door on one end that has a 2" x 6' gap at the top that, of course, is always open due to the structure of the door.

 

[speckledhen]

I have often wondered if you could warm it by stapeling black garbage bags to the walls. Its EZ, quick and cheap. Black absorbs heat. It wont warm it a LOT, but it should have some effect, and it probably costs 5 bucks for a roll of yard bags.
And by the way, unless its a really big coop, your chickens body heat keeps it warmer then the outside air. All of my chickens roost close to each other, im sure for that reason. They know what to do.

They do put off a certain number of BTUs each, can't remember how many. But, they also put off moisture in their breath and poop, so air flow is paramount even in the winters of the Northeast and places like Wisconsin.

A couple of my former coops had double walls with Walmart plastic bags stuffed into the air space. That is decent insulation and FREE. And who doesn't have a ton of plastic grocery bags? Placing a coop in a particular direction helps. A south facing slope is a good place. Place windows and ventilation to make the most of the air flow and sun track as well.