Chickens for 10-20 years or more? Pull up a rockin' chair and lay some wisdom on us!

[Fred's Hens]

Here's a question for OTs: Do you heat or insulate your coop? Why or why not?

Our family has been keeping chickens, in this northern state, for well over 130 years, long before Edison's influence and Rural Electric existed. Like my grandmother before me and her mother before her, our 20x24 barn/coop would be impossible to economically insulate or heat. There is also no need. I keep hardy breeds, called the Americans, ie RIR, BR, and those bred out of that hardy stock. I've also never understood how one can keep heat in while providing maximum ventilation, something that is vital. With wide open eaves for ventilation, all that expensive heat would be lost immediately.

Unlike our chickens, my wife and I do not have down coats and feathers, so we save our precious heating dollars to just squeak by with our own needs.

 

[7L Farm]

Our family has been keeping chickens, in this northern state, for well over 130 years, long before Edison's influence and Rural Electric existed. Like my grandmother before me and her mother before her, our 20x24 barn/coop would be impossible to economically insulate or heat. There is also no need. I keep hardy breeds, called the Americans, ie RIR, BR, and those bred out of that hardy stock. I've also never understood how one can keep heat in while providing maximum ventilation, something that is vital. With wide open eaves for ventilation, all that expensive heat would be lost immediately.

Unlike our chickens, my wife and I do not have down coats and feathers, so we save our precious heating dollars to just squeak by with our own needs.

I would have a hard time heating my three sided coop. But then again my worse time here is in the summer. Its so fricking hot here you wouldn't beleive it. Poor chicken struggles to survive here in the summer.

 

[ejb3810]

My environment is similar to Fred's, and I agree with what he has written fully. The exception may be for people who want to keep a breed that is extremely small or has extremely large single comb. In my opinion it is wise to choose a breed that is well adapted to your environment, but I realize that common sense is often not employed in making these choices.
As someone who rarely has to deal with temp above 90 degrees, I do not have to have my coops air conditioned either !!!

 

[Beekissed]

I am with Fred as well. I didn't even know that people insulated or heated their coops until I joined BYC. The very idea gave me a chuckle...until I read just how many people thought it was necessary in order to keep chickens.

Maybe the same folks who think that it is cruel to keep a dog outdoors but not cruel to keep a pig, horse or cow in the cold yonder? Not sure.

I live in the mountains and it gets cold, not subzero cold but below freezing for extended periods of time, sometimes single digits, lots of snow at times, not so much this year. I've had the very tips of the roo combs frosted one year but not enough to fall off, just a darkening at the tips. I don't buy breeds with peacombs because my roo had a frosted tip one winter....it was the exception and not the rule.

I find that the animal adapts to the weather quite nicely if left alone, be it cold or hot weather. Their feathers are adequate for insulation in either case and with proper shelter from the elements, they not only survive, they thrive.

IMO, if you have birds that die from temp extremes, it is more likely they had compromised health in the first place.

 

[JenellYB]

As 7L Farm mentions, in some areas it is the heat that bad, and chickens can and do succumb to the heat. even healthy chickens (and other animals, as well). We have the samedown here in SE Texas. I've found "double shade" almost essential in our summers if you don't want to lose birds. By "double shade", I mean not situating chicken coops and hen houses our in the open sun. The metal roofs most of us use become radiant heating elements that can just cook animals inside. Try to situation under shade trees. Build all coops or barns tall, with high roof clearance, both the get that hot metal roof further away fromthe animals,and allow maximum ventilation.
Breed selection for extreme heat can be as important as breed selection for extreme cold. Generally lighter built chickens (and other specie animals) handle extreme heat better. In chickens, heavy plumage isn't best in hot climates...I'd not even THINK of having Buff Orpingtons here! The worst for heat are heavy, heavy birds, giant breeds. I once raised a bunch of CornishXRocks side by side with White Rocks, purchased at the same time,and it was getting on into early summer. In addition to the leg problems on the CornishXRocks, they weren't far from size to process the broilers when we had an early high heat spell, not unusual here, and lost a good many of those CornishXRocls....despite double shade and when I realized they were getting in real trouble, even fans, but none of the White Rocks.

Back to cover for hiding from hawks, as others noted, they don't have to be fancy or elaborate, and the birds prefer open sides. Even bushes,andlawn furniture work. I never really had problems with hawks, but thinking back, that may have also been part of why. Did have a lot of bushes, small to large trees and such, as well as an assortment of other cover-providing objects and features where my chickens had range. Things like rabbit hitches, tractor and implements, farm trailers, as well as lawnchairs, benches, tables, work benches, in various areas for sitting while doing whatever around the place.

 

[galanie]

Janelle mentioned something I noted this past summer. Double shade. Even if the roof isn't a heater, having a building or shelter under the shade of a tree makes it a lot cooler than having it in full sun. A few small farms that sell eggs around here had heavy losses during the summer to heat. They were using large barns out in full sun but as for their other practices, I can't tell you. All I know is my little flock did fine, even though most are Orpingtons. Double shade, lots of shade, maximum ventilation.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Yup. Heat, even the low 90's we get here, from time to time, are MUCH more stressful for the chicken than cold will ever be.

So true. Coops can be difficult to cool, so during the heat waves, I don't even try much. The birds spend a lot of time under the evergreen trees. It's shady, cool and the wallow in the cool earth. Thankfully, our nights cool down, so they return to the barn for security.

If one doesn't have thick shade from trees, then artificial shade MUST be created. Shade within shade is nice and cool, especially if the earth maintains a 70 degree like temperature. Providing a little hose down, moistening the soil in the hot afternoon shade is also great appreciated. Use water to cool the earth. More chickens have died from heat stroke than will ever die from the cold. That's true from the brooder chicks right on through the yarding of adults.

 

[JenellYB]

We have weeks on end sometimes hitting 100+ here.....and it DOESN'T cool down nights, with our high humidity only 50 miles from the Gulf. Anything you can do helps.
I have even, when I'd have open freezer space, went into 'rotating buckets' mode during crisis heat, for my chickens, dogs, and rabbits. Using enough buckets, 2-5 gals for dogs and chickens, things like quart plastic ice cream containers for rabbits, to have a double set....twice a day the frozen ones went to the animals, topped off with fresh water until ice melted, the other was emptied, fresh filled, and stuck into the freezer to be ready for the next 'shift'. Not only did they have cool water to drink, they would cuddle up against them. and the ice would help cool the air immediately around the buckets.

 

[JenellYB]

Btw, heat stress, whether on animals or humans, is cummulative. What the body can take one day isn't the same as having to deal with it say after day...and when you are not even getting cool down at night...we've had some stretches of 100+ days with nights barely dropping intothe high 90's if that, and that goes on day after day, as we've had several spells of the past few summers, 20, 30, even 40 days or more without a break, animals and humans both arein big trouble. That's what I'm ferring to when I speak of a 'heat crisis'...not just an occasional hot day, but many, back to back with no break. at some point, the body's thermostat just gives out, if just can't hold the body temp any more...while the animal may even be in the shade, inactive, when that happens, the body's thermostat just goes haywire. I had a dog under just such condtions go into severe crisis some years ago, in late September, temps only mid-90's, but we were coming off one of those summers like that, and days of near 100's leading up to it....she collapsed, her body temp shot up so high the vets thermometr couldnt even read it, which meant OVER 108! It was hopeless, why did we even try: I don't know, it was slow at the vet clinic that day! Packed her in ice (6 yr old, 75 lb Alaskan Malamute) and cold IV's. That vet still talks about her as his 'miracle save;', and that was 17 yrs ago! He called a couple days later, asking about signs of brain damage as she began to get strong enough to get up and around...all I could say, well I guess, when you consider she's a Malamute and was pretty weird already, she doesn't seem much different that before! She lived another 5 yrs.

 

[galanie]

Another good cool-down is a large, low container with a couple inches of water in it, in the shade. They will stand in it and cool off. I'm lucky enough to have a metal pan that is 3'x5' with 4inch sides. Works great. I did all of the above during this last, horrific summer.