Gas Generators

[Chook-A-Holic]

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Just wanted to note that the size of the generator has nothing to do with the type fuel it burns. A natural gas generator is 35% less powerful and efficient and a propane generator is 25% less powerful and efficient than a comparable gasoline generator of the same size. The advantages of the natural/propane is that they are cleaner burning and fuel storage is not a problem. In essence you are burning more fuel to get the same output/run-time however you will not have to be cycling fuel to keep it fresh.

 

[wildorchid053]

we have the whole house generator for living in the boonies. it runs our well. heat, stove, waterheater etc. we live on propane and the power goes out quite a bit here. we are super cold like most of the northern parts and we have an insulated coop and no drafts over the chickens.. when it gets in single digits we have turned on the red heat lamp.. with out it we have a couple of RIR roos with a little frost bite on the tips of their combs.. but other than that they are fine in the bitter cold. we live on a hill top and the winds can be fierce with the blowing cold and snow.. you should be fine with just insulation

 

[gsim]

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Hope he doesn't lay any 'eggs' with his gas!

 

[gsim]

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That sounds like the right direction to go. It would be far cheaper to run an electric line to coop than buy and operate a generator. Insulated coop should do for most of N America below the arctic circle. A windbreak on N and W sides will go a long way toward making in not be so miserable in really bad weather too. Also, be sure to select breeds that are known to do well in cold.

 

[team_realtree]

What are your guys thoughts on a propane heater in a coop?

 

[Splash Giants]

Hey team_realtree how cold is it where you live. Chickens can live in very cold weather with no issues. I only cover my drafts and thats it. I have never heated there coops. They love free ranging when its freezing weather.

 

[Chook-A-Holic]

Provided you could mount it safely and out of reach you would still have some major hurdles to overcome. Moisture and CO, just to name a couple. You would have to have so much ventilation in the coop that it would probably defeat the purpose of trying to heat it.

 

[patandchickens]

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That it is an unnecessary fire risk, and not needed in most places S of the arctic circle. Yes, industrial-size livestock barns are heated with propane but they have the space and budget to do it safely, neither of which tends to be the case in backyard coops.

Where do you live, how cold does it actually get?? There are SO many things you can do (first, better, and cheaper!) to keep the coop warm. I'd suggest starting by insulating the bejeebers out of it. If nothing else, even if you do end up for whatever reason applying some sort of artificial heat, the more insulation you have the less heat you will need.

Pat

 

[team_realtree]

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That it is an unnecessary fire risk, and not needed in most places S of the arctic circle. Yes, industrial-size livestock barns are heated with propane but they have the space and budget to do it safely, neither of which tends to be the case in backyard coops.

Where do you live, how cold does it actually get?? There are SO many things you can do (first, better, and cheaper!) to keep the coop warm. I'd suggest starting by insulating the bejeebers out of it. If nothing else, even if you do end up for whatever reason applying some sort of artificial heat, the more insulation you have the less heat you will need.

Pat

I live in ontario. The coop is framed like a standard wall with 2x4 studs at 24" on center. The walls are 3/8s plywood. I do have the budget to put insulation. But what am I insulating? I didn't think the chickens themselves producing 10 watts per birds was enough to even bother insulating it??

I have never actually had it get to cold its probably just me thinking they need a toasty coop....

Also keeping the water melted is an issue. But I thought I saw somewhere that someone had a battery operated dog bowl that kept it warm?

 

[patandchickens]

I have never actually had it get to cold its probably just me thinking they need a toasty coop....

Hm, I guess I was confused by your first post in the thread where you say "I had to sell my chickens because it got to cold in there coop"...

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What you're insulating-in is a) the chickens' own body heat, which is not trivial; b) the amount that the coop air and furnishings and structure warm up during daytime high temperatures; and c) any additional amount of heat you can put into the thermal mass of the coop, e.g. from homemade solar heaters or whatever (including any source of artificial heat you might use, too)

FWIW, my coop is much bigger than yours (15x40, with slab floor and fully-insulated 6" stud walls and ceilings) which makes it work better at holding heat, but that said, it has never gotten below the low 20s F (about -8 C) in winter, even before I made the solarized front run to act as a heater.

You will not be able get your small coop to work *as* well, just b/c of size, but if you insulate the bejeebers out of it (preferably add another 2" at least to the insulation between your studs, and heavily insulate the ceiling) and add a solar thingie with good thermal mass to capture that heat, I would be surprised if you couldn't make the thing stay above -20 C for most or all of the winter, which is plenty warm for most chickens.

Also keeping the water melted is an issue. But I thought I saw somewhere that someone had a battery operated dog bowl that kept it warm?

This is easier said than done. The simplest thing is probably just to bring them water a couple times per day, and have it be in a large well-insulated container.

Or, just tot up the cost of all this other stuff you're contemplating (heaters, etc) and compare it to the cost of trenching electric out there... unless the coop is thousands of feet from the house, it may make more sense in the long run to just put an electric line out there

Good luck, have fun,

Pat​