Coop Heater Advice

[LoloCluckCluck]

Hello! Looking for advice on a safe heater for a wood coop. I’ve seen the plate heaters that you can hang from the walls and wondering if that’s 1) safe and 2) efficient at giving extra heat to the coop?

I have 5 buff Orpingtons and am in northern PA so it’s going to get below freezing quite often. Thank you!

 

[DobieLover]

Being below freezing in a well ventilated coop for an Orpington is not going to require supplemental heat. Chickens keep themselves warm by fluffing their outer feathers to trap in their body heat. As long as they have a dry and very well ventilated coop with the ventilation going over their heads they will do just fine.

Below freezing isn't even a real issue for the chickens. Several degrees sub-zero can get a little bit tough on them, but not just below freezing. I'm north of you and I've never heated my coop and have no insulation in my coop. My birds do just fine.

I do have several six and seven-year-old hens that I will put into the heated nest boxes to give them a little bit of help getting through winter. I only do this on nights that go sub-zero.

 

[AntiqueB]

I agree with Dobie. I used to use a heater plate, but inevitably found the girls (including one Orpington) on the far side of the roost. And often one of the Easter Eggers snuggling under the Orpington! As long as the coop is draft-free, and the girls have a sheltered (wind-free) place in the run, they'll be fine. Even my frizzle Polish is fine below freezing.

 

[LoloCluckCluck]

I agree with Dobie. I used to use a heater plate, but inevitably found the girls (including one Orpington) on the far side of the roost. And often one of the Easter Eggers snuggling under the Orpington! As long as the coop is draft-free, and the girls have a sheltered (wind-free) place in the run, they'll be fine. Even my frizzle Polish is fine below freezing.

Thank you so much! This is so good to know. These are my first chickens so I have 0 experience haha. I appreciate it!

 

[LoloCluckCluck]

Being below freezing in a well ventilated coop for an Orpington is not going to require supplemental heat. Chickens keep themselves warm by fluffing their outer feathers to trap in their body heat. As long as they have a dry and very well ventilated coop with the ventilation going over their heads they will do just fine.

Below freezing isn't even a real issue for the chickens. Several degrees sub-zero can get a little bit tough on them, but not just below freezing. I'm north of you and I've never heated my coop and have no insulation in my coop. My birds do just fine.

I do have several six and seven-year-old hens that I will put into the heated nest boxes to give them a little bit of help getting through winter. I only do this on nights that go sub-zero.

Thank you so much! These are my first chickens and so I wasn’t sure if I was ill prepared (they say they’re cold hardy but I had know idea what that meant lol). Excited to hear they should survive just fine this winter! Thank you!

 

[Mother of Chaos]

Thank you so much! These are my first chickens and so I wasn’t sure if I was ill prepared (they say they’re cold hardy but I had know idea what that meant lol). Excited to hear they should survive just fine this winter! Thank you!

The ventilation (=lots of) and drafts (=hardly any) are key issues in winter-ready coops.

If you like, you can post a pic of your coop for some extra pairs of eyes.

 

[Hartwood Hollow Farm]

Being below freezing in a well ventilated coop for an Orpington is not going to require supplemental heat. Chickens keep themselves warm by fluffing their outer feathers to trap in their body heat. As long as they have a dry and very well ventilated coop with the ventilation going over their heads they will do just fine.

Below freezing isn't even a real issue for the chickens. Several degrees sub-zero can get a little bit tough on them, but not just below freezing. I'm north of you and I've never heated my coop and have no insulation in my coop. My birds do just fine.

I do have several six and seven-year-old hens that I will put into the heated nest boxes to give them a little bit of help getting through winter. I only do this on nights that go sub-zero.

Agreed heat in the coop is not the issue with adult birds . It is the water that must kept from freezing. We were up in PA for a few years.

We used 5 gal buckets with nipple feeders and horse trough heaters. We kept one suspended in the coop. The ones outside were wrapped with old blankets to help with insulation.

This worked well. Gotta keep them hydrated to stay healthy.

 

[AinaWGSD]

Agreeing with everyone who says you really don't need to heat your coop. Orpingtons, with all their fluffy feathers, actually handle freezing temperatures much better than heat waves.

My first winter with chickens we had a polar vortex and I thought it would be too cold so I planned on not opening the coop. When I went out to give them liquid water in the morning all of them met me at the gate to the run. I had forgotten to close the pop door the night before, and the chooks had a different opinion on what temps are "too cold" for chickens!

This is a thermal image of a chicken, dark blue is the coldest areas, then light blue, green, yellow, orange, red, and white is the hottest. That's how good feathers are at keeping heat from escaping into the air! Pictures like this really helped put my mind at ease during those first freezing days of chicken keeping.

 

[Sefirothe]

As a fellow northern pennsylvanian, I will say I do have a small oil filled radiant heater I use in my coop on the bitterest days. But only to save the eggs from freezing and cracking as I cant get out to collect multiple times per day. I'm the sole chicken caretaker and I work decently long hours.

I probably wont end up using it much this winter, because my 3 adult hens are going into their 3rd winter so I dont expect many eggs out of them. The littles are currently barely a week old so they wont be laying until early spring probably.