Coldest night yet - heat lamp for one night?

[Chicken of the Sea]

-30 here last night, no heat and no insulation and the girls are all fine!

 

[Dutchess]

Quote:

I agree, don't do it. If they are aclamated to the cold it might make them colder when the light is off, IMO.

 

[Aria]

We have 14 Silkie Chickens. -20 and no heat. They are fine

 

[armadamork]

For what it's worth I haven't used a heat lamp and haven't had any problems with the chickens or water. When I built my coop last spring I insulated the walls and roof and put in a full view door facing south. I heats up the coop nicely in the day and holds it till morning. The only thing I want to add is an automatic run door to a fully enclosed run.

 

[alaskafarmgirl]

Quote:
My coop is not insulated, except by some bales of hay on the windy side. I live in Alaska. I use a 75-watt red floodlamp, with an aluminum hood that comes with the ceramic socket as a set. I turn it on when the temps in Alaska are expected to drop below 5F or will be below zero, and I leave it on a timer for 12 hours, from 8 to 8. It is in the roost. THey would probably get by fine without heat, but it can get down to -30F, and that's just too cold for comfort, and it can be like that for days on end. It's good to give them a warm place to go, at those temps, if they need it. I am careful not to give them heat when it's not really cold, so they are adjusted to the temps in the "normal" winter range of 10-30 degrees F.

My breed is 10 sex link reds/blacks, and I'm getting 5-10 eggs daily because they're comfortable. We only have 5 hours of light a day here, so I have a 40-watt bulb on timer to make up 14 hours of daylight. I feed them 2 cups of scratch a day, and have 16% protein layer pellets available at all times. I give them leftovers and greens regularly. I leave the coop door open on nice days, but they stay inside and goof around in there. If you have a galvanized waterer, make sure it's heated so their combs don't stick to it and injure them. I heat mine with a block heater pad from the auto supply store, adhered to the bottom of a galvanized heater stand that came with the waterer (the original heater pad burned out after one season) with high-temp adhesive, and leave it plugged in 24/7. I've had several flocks over the years here in this climate, and this routine works great. No casualties so far, all happy!

 

[LeghornLisa]

Heat lamps are so dangerous...I have a flat panel heater that kicks on at 32 degrees and shuts off at 45 degree. Very safe, love it! I got it from shopthecoop.com

 

[johny]

When it gets below -20C I put the heat lamp on.
There is still an open vent for fresh ventilation.
We've gone down to -35C this winter.
With the heat lamp on, inside the coup was about -10C those nights.

There was no ill effect on the birds and eg production has been steady.