Can I use small coop as brooder in cold weather?

[TimM]

I haven't been around in a few years because my three Goldens thrived, thanks to you wonderful folks! Now that they've gone to that big coop in the sky, I'm getting brave and planning to buy 3 or 4 chicks and brood them-probably RI Red or Golden Sex Linked. I have a tight little coop, 3' x 4' with insulated ceiling and tight doors. It's got electricity, so I can hang an infrared heat lamp down nice and low for them. The thing is, I live in the north, and we'll have many nights in the 30's yet, and perhaps a few well down in the 20's. Do you think I can get away with brooding them in the coop, so I don't have to do it in the house and make my wife paranoid of escape or worse? Thanks!

TimM

 

[ButchGood]

Sure you can. Sounds like your coop is better insulated than my house.

 

[what did I do]

Are you using the little blue and white coop listed on your page? That is a wonderful coop. Just put t thermometer in the coop. One of those remote ones would work wonderfully. Put it where the chicks are on the bottom of the coop. A heat lamp in a small space can overheat it and kill the chicks.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Chicks have been brooded in sheds and barns and on coop floors for a century or longer.

I brood "outside" in an outbuilding. It's the only way to fly.

 

[TimM]

Thanks for the compliment! Yup, that's my coop. It was the first construction project bigger than kitchen cabinets that I ever attempted. With all the go-aheads I've gotten here, I'll brood in the coop. Thanks! You folks are wonderful!

BTW, I do have a wireless thermometer in the coop, although it's halfway up the wall. Maybe I'll lower it.

TimM