Coop Heat Thermostats?

[yawningreyhound]

Your coop is exactly what I wanted when someone for whom I did a chicken-sitting favor for several months BOUGHT me a coop. (twisted cedar ranch chicken coops . com)

Then my DH heard about the surprise coop and called the Ranch and had the person build a storage shed along the same lines and when they were delivered, the coop was so inadequate for 5 birds, so draftily constructed, so everything that I didn't want, that I'm turning the storage shed into the coop.

It'll be nowhere near what it needs to be to be a Woods Open Air, but I'll post photos here and on the Palmondon blog and see if anyone has suggestions on how to keep the coop productive.

DH REALLY wants to install a heat lamp as we had a run of -15F last month with highs not much over 0F.

In that type of extreme cold, would you still not supplementally heat?

 

[MrsBachbach]

Well, some say it's not neccessary, so it's up to you. If you are using it to keep your water thawed or your eggs from freezing, I'd go for it. Just make sure it's not close enough to bedding to start a fire and that is is out of the way of the hens so they don't knock it down coming off the roosts. Some may try to jump up on it too. Place it carefully.

 

[Hokum Coco]

I would like to install an outdoor thermostat to control my heat lamps in the winter Thermo cubes come in a variety of settings you may check those out.

Check it out:
http://www.thermocube.com/

Chickens are not polar bears we have to keep in mind. Laying, vocal, and active birds in my opinion is a sign everything is right in their world. That being said when a chicken has 3 trips around the sun it is there as a pet not for egg production. If your birds or animals are showing signs of stress you have to do what is right in your situation. The one size fits all is a recipe for disaster.

Take inventory on your animals daily and make daily decisions is what I do summer and winter. A heat lamp and TLC can happen not only in winter and not always due to cold.

In Canada I am subject to -40º cold snaps. I do NOT heat or give extra light in my coop. Murphy's law says my birds will find out what -40 is all about when my hydro goes out. Regardless what you decide feed Extra Corn over the winter you will not be sorry.

Or something like this may help also; You could even knit a hoodie for those extra cold days..