Cold col, what is too cold

[WalkingOnSunshine]

So is it bad to add heat for the chickens? We are in CO and it is dry here... We have 7 chickens in a smaller coop and they all perch inside together. We have a heat lamp set up in the coop and a heated water base. Do you or anyone run a red heat lamp to increase egg production or to keep them more comfortable when it gets below freezing? I have heard that when it gets down to around 10F you should use a light on a timer for 8 hours at night in the coop. Any thoughts?

There are a couple of reasons that people say not to heat the coop. First, it's not necessary for most people--unless your coop is regularly -20 inside and windy and damp--in which case, time to insulate and seal the coop--, the hens will be fine. Second, you're making them dependent on a heat source. If they are used to the heat, and the power goes out or the light burns out some cold night, you may lose your chickens. We heat the water, but not the coop. Also, your red light won't do anything for egg production. It's not ANY light that helps, it's certain wavelengths of light that are not found in a red bulb. You just want to use a standard bulb. We use a 100 watt bulb, but we have a really big coop.

You DON"T want a light on for eight hours at night in the coop. You just want to make sure they get 14 hours of light at least. The best time to add light is in the morning. I'd recommend a light that comes on at 4am or so and off at 8am. The reasons for that are that you want it to be as natural as possible. You're trying to mimic the sun when you supplement with light. When you use light in the evening, birds are caught on the floor when the lights go off and can't get to their perches well in the dark. Also, the red evening colors of natural light are making them want to go to bed, and the supplementary light can't really counteract that unless you have them confined in a windowless building. When you add light in the morning, you are waking them up early, which the light outside naturally enhances.

Animals, like people, need it to be dark at night to sleep well and be less stressed, so you def. don't want lights on all night. My family has a largish dairy farm, and we even keep the lights off in the barns at night even though there is a night milking shift. It's been proven with research that cows do better with a certain number of hours of dark at night.

 

[aoxa]

-13F this morning, and everyone is fine. Including the 12 week olds who don't have a heatlamp

 

[Horse Chick]

These posts are very helpful. I keep debating about whether we should prepare to provide a little heat via a 60 watt bulb for really cold nights this winter. There is no electricity going out to the coop so I'd have to run a 100' extension cord which I really don't want to do if I don't have to. I live in Rhode Island and it has been getting down into the 20's at night but the coop is staying between 34-40 degrees. It is 4' wide x 8' long, by about 4' high and roof and walls are insulated. It is 3' off the ground and I'm thinking of insulating the floor too. The pen does extend under the coop and we're going to staple up some contractor's plastic just on that area so they can escape the wind when they are outside. Any opinions on that and insulating the floor? I use about 4 inches of pine shavings on the floor, keep their coop door (16" x 16") to the pen only open from the time they go out until they come in at sunset. There is some ventilation (though I now keep the windows closed unless it is 50's during the day and they've seemed very comfortable, water inside the coop does not freeze.

 

[martings]

It has helped me to read the posts about chickens vs. cold ... I've been over-protecting mine, just like a mother! Good to see posts about the need to keep ventilation flowing -- I just learned about this serious cold-weather need this week. Keeping this in mind while I finish the chick coop within a barn -- Marti Schmidt

 

[Chicks Galore3]

I've known that chickens do fine without heat, and have shared that, but I've been struggling, wondering if my babies are cold. This has helped me a lot!

 

[Help_battery_hens]

I rescue exbattery hens and i find that some aren't able to cope well with the cold. Some girls recover well and grow lots of feathers but some never grow any back. I have a jumper on my bald hen Gina, she hasn't grown one feather in 6 months and her body is nearly completely bald. She is fine in the night as the coop is cosy and warm and she is always in the middle of all my other girls but she is very cold during the day when the temperature barely goes above freezing. The jumper helps her greatly and so does a few extra treats.

 

[cluck5]

Hello minpins 99: It is just a chicken galore 3 says. They don't usually like to be out at dark. Right now it gets dark here in Canada about 4:30 or 5 p.m. so same as you it is dark by the time I get home too! I always check on my chickens when I get home and make sure they are all tucked away, do a head count, check for eggs etc... I even check on them before I go to bed! I do give them advanced warning if I open the door to the coop or shut the pop door (I just say there names or make a clucking sound) that way I don't freak them out!! My chickens really don't like to come out when it's windy and cold this is their first winter and mine as well WITH chickens (it was -28 last week here, I didn't want to go outside either)!!!! In the summer they are out in the run or free ranging in the yard and as soon as the sun sets, they are in their coop...like clock work!! Let us know when you get your chickens!

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

These posts are very helpful. I keep debating about whether we should prepare to provide a little heat via a 60 watt bulb for really cold nights this winter. There is no electricity going out to the coop so I'd have to run a 100' extension cord which I really don't want to do if I don't have to. I live in Rhode Island and it has been getting down into the 20's at night but the coop is staying between 34-40 degrees. It is 4' wide x 8' long, by about 4' high and roof and walls are insulated. It is 3' off the ground and I'm thinking of insulating the floor too. The pen does extend under the coop and we're going to staple up some contractor's plastic just on that area so they can escape the wind when they are outside. Any opinions on that and insulating the floor? I use about 4 inches of pine shavings on the floor, keep their coop door (16" x 16") to the pen only open from the time they go out until they come in at sunset. There is some ventilation (though I now keep the windows closed unless it is 50's during the day and they've seemed very comfortable, water inside the coop does not freeze.

You want some natural ventilation via roof vents or similar so that you get some air movement. Think of your own house--you probably have vents in the eaves for this reason. That ventilation ensures that you don't get lots of moisture build-up, which is not good for the hens. You probably want to err on the side of more ventilation rather than less.

That being said, I don't think there's any reason not to insulate the floor if you have the means and motivation. Our hen house walls are built like a people house, with insulation inside, but we didn't insulate the floor. That was a conscious choice because we do a deep litter bedding method in the winter, which means that there is probably 6-8" of shavings pack under 3" of fresh shavings all winter, which I think keeps the floor nice and insulated by itself, but otherwise no insulation. If I wasn't doing deep litter in the winter, I'd probably want some insulation under there. If your hens don't have any sort of wind break, then yes, I'd put up a tarp or stack some straw bales around the bottom of the run to block the wind.

If water inside your coop doesn't freeze, your hens really don't need a heat source! They're warmer than most. In the winter at our place, a 7 gallon hanging waterer will freeze in about 4 hours unless we hang a red heat light above it, but we still don't put any heat over the perches or nest boxes. I have to make sure to get outside a couple of times to make sure to gather eggs before they freeze, but the hens are fine.

 

[Gifa]

I'm wanting my coop to be as low tech as possible... so, that automatic chicken door I have out there has just about spent my coop's entire tech budget. I am not concerned about lighting them for the egg production either, I got enough hens to balance the winter loss in production. So... I am permitting seasonal breaks. And, they'll get to hang around a bit longer for me since I won't have burned them out by forcing them into an unnatural laying cycle. I think it's more natural and sustainable this way.

Humans have been keeping and breeding chickens long before electricity came along... They've survived almost every environment we've brought them to and for the most part, they've been kept outdoors. The only special accommodations that need to be made are for the breeds that come from vastly different environments than the one you live in... ex. A light variety that hails from Southern Italy, Africa or the Middle East, probably needs a little more help in Alaska during the coldest months of winter, likewise, a large variety that hails from New Hampshire, probably needs a little more help in Texas during the hottest parts of summer.

But as a general rule of thumb, I worry about excessive heat long before I worry about excessive cold. I wouldn't pay a whole lot of attention to providing additional heat or cooling between 0F - 100F... and would only really just start thinking about additional heat below -20F and providing relief from heat above 105F.

Even so, I really only consider low tech/low risk solutions like passive radiant heat sources, such as heating big solid bricks in the oven and placing them in the coop just before I go to bed in the deepest part of winter, and freezing those bricks in the summer, placing them in a shady location in their enclosure.

But also keep in mind, adding electric heat or lighting greatly increases the risk of fire. And I love my little ladies enough to not baby them with a fire hazard.

 

[Grateful Dad]

its gonna be 21 here tonight in central Massachusetts..I have a 40 watt bulb inside a half cinder block with the water on top to keep it from freezing, other than that I switched to hay instead of wood chips for the winter so they can get down and nest if they want, if a sparrow can survive all winter in a nest, well so can 5 orps in a coop with hay. I have a window on the south side of the coop so it warms it up in the day, they are loving life..