Chicken coop

[Ken H]

Just finished the inner sheathing on my chicken coop. It has two windows with triple pane plexiglass. 4 heat lamps to be controlled in four stages will keep the coop at 55 degrees down to -10 degrees F. 1 1/2" insulation and the outer sheathing go on next, then the electrical for lighting and heat. I did a heat loss calculation and it came out to 1260 btu/hr loss at -10 degrees outdoor temp while maintaining a 55 degree in coop temperature. Four heat lamps at 100 watts will provide 1360 btu/hr heat. The lamps will be staged on to control the temperature in the coop within a 5 degree span. I happen to have a Honeywell W7100 logic control to accomplish the task. I do commercial heating and A/C work. The coop is mounted on a light trailer so I can move it around as needed to distribute the fertilizer. 4' x 6' gives me 24 sq. ft. for 8 chickens. I am new to chickens and am finding out that there is more to it than I suspected.

 

[Emzyyy]

PICTURES!

 

[citalk2much]

Sounds nice can't wait to see pictures

 

[Mahonri]

Welcome to BYC and this thread should probably be moved to the coops section.

Oh, and we need pics!!!

 

[silkiechicken]

Wow, sounds like you will have some really spoiled chickens!

Just as a note though, a rule for space for standard sized hens is 4sq feet each inside the coop and 10 sq feet outside in a run. Some do with less, some say do at least twice. Often people do with less coop space, down to about 2 sq feet per bird, if they free range the girls during the day hours. The risk of high capacity housing is cannibalism and egg eating, both which are often only cured by removing the hen. If they are always going to be cooped, guidelines say you have enough space for just two standard sized birds.

Those little fluffy butts will be out growing 4x6 really fast and you'll probably have to move it daily if you want to keep the grass. In the past, I had two 4x8 tractor style coops that I moved every few weeks with just a breeding trio contained within, for the purpose of killing patches of grass for planting food stuffs, and they did a very good job at it. They will and can scratch ground bare. I fenced off a 20x15 or so patch and 16 birds turned the grassy weeds into dirt in about 2 months.

In your heating calculations, don't forget the heating ability of the birds. They run hot. Those trios I had in the 4x8 tractors, would be able to heat up their 12 cubic feet of hutch space (2Lx4Wx1.5avgH) up to about 30F, when it was about 20F outside in the winter, and the hutch is just plain 1/2 inch plywood with a one square foot door open to the run and dirt bottom. They spent all but the coldest nights sleeping on a perch outside. Have some birds who slept outside on a just tarp covered perch when it was in the teens.

You may find that if your winters don't get below 0 very often, heating might not really be necessary, and if you do get below 0, keeping the temp at 32 inside would be better than heating it to 55, due to acclimation concerns and the increased risk of frost bite when birds are heated indoors. Another thing to keep an eye out on is ventilation. They are heaters and humidifiers all in one. Dehumidifying the coop in the winter may be arguably more useful than heating it in terms of the bird's health.

Good luck!

 

[lunkerchicken]

Pictures, pictures!!!