Gas Generators

[team_realtree]

Quote:
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"...

Quote:
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

When I said that I had to sell them because it got too cold it was probably just me feeling bad for them. In reality they were probably fine.

The coop is thousands of feet from the nearest electrical source. Moving it is not an option...​

 

[team_realtree]

Quote:
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"...

Quote:
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

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