chicken coop heater pictures

[meloncholy88]

The outlets I sell on www.shopthecoop.com offer a 3 year warranty and are extremely high quality. I have not had one returned yet. I also make most products by hand in my Pittsburgh location. THe Nesting Box heater I invented and assemle myself, so they are really nice quality items.

It costs more for things when they are handmade, and use USA products.

Thankyou,
www.shopthecoop.com

 

[plowbouy]

Hello Melonie.. your [email protected] email address keeps getting kicked back to me.. is there another I can try? Thanks

 

[Chick_a_dee]

We don't heat and we're up in the frigid north!

 

[SuziQ991]

Are there other ways to make the coop warmer without a heater? Like stacking hay or straw bales in or outside of the coop. My chicks are only a month old so I haven't been through a winter yet. From what I have read here, adding extra layers of bedding will help but I thought maybe there were other ideas out there.

 

[Monk]

I have never used a heater. I do have a light bulb, 100w. It will be set on a timer to come on at 4:00am or so, til 8:00am or so. Never had issues. The light bulb is basically to extend daylight to help with egg production(???). I imagine it would take the edge off those chilly mornings too.

 

[BroomFarm]

In reading through this thread, one thing has struck me: The Golden Feather members and moderators consistently recommend very limited, or no heating, but emphasize moisture control. This is true regardless of where they live and what climate their coops are exposed to. Being one who defers to experience, I think I'll insulate well, ventilate even better, and keep the heating down to just one or two ~75 watt bulbs. Then, I will watch my birds for any signs of distress and watch my coop for signs of moisture or mildew.

 

[Kismet]

I've just read this thread, because I am in the process of building another larger coop. [What can I say? chickens really are addictive.]

My original 6' x 8' coop has no insulation in it. I use a round metal, practically antique, water heater that I put in a rubber bucket of water. I have a 60 watt light bulb that goes on at 4:00am to lengthen the day for continued egg production. It gets very cold in NH - can be -20F, but usually stops at -10 to 0 degrees. On those cold days, I close up the chicken door and shut the window (and also if it snows, so it doesn't get damp inside - wet is worse than cold). I have commercial crosses with both single combs, and haven't had a frostbitten comb for several years. This winter, I will have some fancier and more valuable chickens in the flock. I plan to rub vaseline on their combs if the weather plans to be really cold, just for added protection.

I do plan to insulate my new coop - walls and ceiling - and cover the insulation with vinyl flooring for easy cleaning that I got real cheap at Job Lot. There will be a lot of ventilation on all four sides. But it is a lot bigger - 12' x 18'.

I think we humans have a tendency to inflict animals with our own desires, and we like it nice and warm. I raised sheep for many years, and one of the worst things people new to sheep did in their barns was to close it up tight so the sheep wouldn't get cold. Instead, they caught pneumonia from the condensation dripping back onto them.

Chickens grow feathers and down to keep themselves warm. If your roost is wide enough so when they settle on it, their feet are covered by their bodies, they should be fine.

I think keeping water heated is the biggest chore. And shoveling the snow so I can open the door.

 

[Galaxiedriver]

Quote:
Be careful where/how you set this thing up. The heat from the bulb will conduct through the metal tin and make whatever is incontact with it very hot. Pine chips or a wood floor could be set on fire with this rig.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
1) insulation, including the underside of the roof. This can be manmade insulation, or haybales stacked around the outside, or even just snow shoveled against the walls. All of these have pros and cons, but all can be useful in their own particular situations.

2) arrange ventilation so that you can use just the downwind side during cold windy winter weather, and can adjust how much it's open

3) try to get maximum solar gain during the day, and HOLD that heat for as long into the night as possible. The more thermal mass int he coop, the better it will work; also in very cold climates it may be useful to insulate or curtain the window to reduce heat loss thru the panes at night.

4) if you are really bonkers about raising coop temperature, there are a variety of passive solar arrangements that can be constructed. Search 'pop can heater' in this forum, for instance.

5) most chickens are really quite cold hardy as long as the air is DRY and draft-free i.e. no breeze blowing direclty on the chickens. Thus, in large part the most useful two things you can do are a) go the extra mile to keep the coop DRY, including but not limited to good ventilation and good hygeine (a droppings board, cleaned every morning, helps a lot); and b) readjust your expectations so that you are not *trying* to keep the coop above freezing or anything like that, b/c with few exceptions they really, really don't need it.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[SuziQ991]

Thank you Pat, good info