Experimental heat and water-warming ideas-post your genius ideas here!

[Alaskan]

Spauld, what kind of environment do you live in? As in what is the coldest lows over a week, and do you get lots of snow, or freezing rain, strong winds, etc.

Most places, even when super cold, do not need to heat the coop. Now, electric for a light and to keep the water from freezing are kinda needed.....but not heat.

 

[spauld]

Alaskan - Here in the Denver area, our winters can run the gamut between downright cold (single digits for a few days) to rather mild. I guess I'm mostly concerned about the 'transition period' that's coming up here in the next 10 days or so. That's when our new chicks will be 5 weeks old and supposedly ready to be moved outside. We've already removed the heat lamp; they clearly don't need that anymore, but this time of the year, our Colorado nights can get pretty dang chilly and I'm just concerned the youngsters will not do well after living here in the house. I've insulated their little pre-fab chicken coop and sealed anything that looks like it would let in drafts. I do plan to install some closeable vents just to make sure I can keep the coop well ventilated throughout the summer...but was planning to keep the vents closed at night, at least until it warms up a bit more.

 

[SarahInAlaska]

Alaskan - Here in the Denver area, our winters can run the gamut between downright cold (single digits for a few days) to rather mild.  I guess I'm mostly concerned about the 'transition period' that's coming up here in the next 10 days or so.  That's when our new chicks will be 5 weeks old and supposedly ready to be moved outside.  We've already removed the heat lamp; they clearly don't need that anymore, but this time of the year, our Colorado nights can get pretty dang chilly and I'm just concerned the youngsters will not do well after living here in the house.  I've insulated their little pre-fab chicken coop and sealed anything that looks like it would let in drafts.  I do plan to install some closeable vents just to make sure I can keep the coop well ventilated throughout the summer...but was planning to keep the vents closed at night, at least until it warms up a bit more.

I'm also in Alaska and know of people up in Fairbanks where the temps drop to -40*and colder that do not heat their coop. Supplemental light and heated water containers though. I think with your insulation even your younger guys should be okay, especially this time of year. It's been sitting in the high 20s to low 30s at my house at night but with insulated walls alone my hens are keeping the coop at almost 50* (I have a thermometer in the coop so I can know if I need to turn on water heaters at night.)