Do coops need heat

[Jenessa_096]

Id never heard of the breed and looked them up...they are beautiful..

They are!

 

[3KillerBs]

This article will be helpful: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/cold-weather-poultry-housing-and-care.72010/

 

[bruceha2000]

Id never heard of the breed and looked them up...they are beautiful..

Yes they are! And good flyers as well. Don't plan to keep them inside a fence even 5' high. One of mine took off from the south side of the little barn and flew a good 75 feet around back, including over the 5' fence that encloses the acre of chicken "pasture". She was back inside the "safe" zone when she landed.

 

[Huntmaster]

So question one , what temps would you have to worry about ? Question 2 , how do you have a coop that is vented but not have drafts ? With a vent would it not let in a draft ?

In Ohio in my opinion, we do not get temps ever that you should need heat in coop. As far as ventilation should be higher than your birds heads when roosting. Moisture rises with the heat from your chickens and ventilation is very important to keeping humidity and ammonia down in coop. Humidity/moisture is what causes the frostbite on chickens, so ventilation is so much more important than heat. As I stated in first post as long as they have dry coop with draft free roost meaning no winds directly on birds and ample ventilation here in Ohio you should never need a heated coop. Your birds will acclimate to colder temps. If you add heat and they don't get to acclimate to cold they will really suffer if you loose power or heat source that is not needed in first place.

 

[samanthaoverton]

Yes they are! And good flyers as well. Don't plan to keep them inside a fence even 5' high. One of mine took off from the south side of the little barn and flew a good 75 feet around back, including over the 5' fence that encloses the acre of chicken "pasture". She was back inside the "safe" zone when she landed.

Wow..that's a long flight..my leghorns like to fly out of there five ft fencing. I have to clip all 8 of there wings.. typically not a fun task.lol

 

[Acre4Me]

Hi @CarboneFamily ! I’m from Ohio too.

Generally, no heat needed. And nix on the insulation bc rodents LOVE it.

We have an elevated coop, with a single slant roof, open eaves. Also, the triangles formed between top of wall and sloped roof is open nearly all year. In the very cold periods, we do have a heat lamp connected to a thermostat type plug in. This is programmable, so I have the thermometer at roost level, and it set to turn in the heat lamp once inside coop temp is below 15F. Because there are birds present, and it is draft free at the roosts, the outdoor temps need to be quite low for that heat lamp to turn on. It mainly serves the purpose of keeping the interior of the coop from becoming exceedingly cold when temps are terrible. When we have had -18F, and -40 windchill, the coop will register at around 0F or slightly below.

The other thing we do is to provide 24/7 feed for the birds during really cold weather (teens or lower for sustained periods. They need food to stay warm. Otherwise, they normally only have good outdoors in the covered run.

 

[bruceha2000]

I agree on the 24x7 feed in the winter. My girls always have access to food. After snow melt and prior to late fall, they get fed twice a day, tossed so no one can hog the feeder. Other than those 2 feedings they are on their own to forage.