Heat Lamp Question

[Wildsky]

My coop temp is now down to 3 degrees... my little tiny ceramic heat bulb thingie only kicks on at 11:30ish - Thats 2 hours away, I'm guessing they'll be down to zero by then. (it is 0 outside now)
With windchill we're going to get down to -25 so I aint going out anytime soon, mind you it will still be BITTERLY cold at 8am when I DO go out.

I don't think the ceramic thing does a BIG deal on heating, my coop is HUGE 20X8 the heat bulb is about 20 inches or so away from the center of the roost - it was as close as I could get it - it it takes the BITE off I'll be happy!...

I checked the history on my temp gauge thing, and for the coop the lowest its gone down to is -3.

:|

 

[KrisRose]

Chickensforever hit the nail on the head- use your chickens behavior to determine what the lowest temperture is that they are comfortable in. When it gets close to 15 mine are not all that happy. They would survive in the cold if that were the only option but I perfer to help out my girls if they need it.
I also watch the behavior of my horse to determine if he needs any help with the cold. It has gotten down to -2 and he's as happy as a clam. I just give him extra flake of hay to keep his gut working and generating heat. He has a run-in in the barn to get out of the wind.
The cold let up a little last night but tomorrow its supposed to get frigid again.

 

[SeaChick]

Wildsky, are your using *farenheit or *celcius? If you're on F then that is comforting to hear that your chickens are doing fine in temps like that. (3*F in the coop...)

Stacey

 

[krturpie]

SeaChick has a point and also reminded me that we've got folks connecting from outside the US, too (or folks that are just used to using deg C).

Well, for their sake, I apologize for not being more specific and wish to let them know that I think that we're talking about temp in F (Please chime in if you're not, Wildsky and others).

I'd be fairly comfortable at 25 degs C,

but I think that my chickens right now would start to sweat.