Heat lamp thoughts!

[jimbob86]

Quote: If someone is actually "making a living" as in making enough to consistantly support a family on the small margin afforded by our current "make as much product as inhumanly possible and hope it sells for more than what it cost you" Ag policy (all in the interest of cheap food) then they are almost certainly part of the problem detailed in the OP.

It is unsustainable, and when giant monocultures crash, the result is giant sized disaster.

 

[centrarchid]

If someone is actually "making a living"  as in making enough to consistantly support a family on the small margin afforded by our current "make as much product as inhumanly possible and hope it sells for more than what it cost you" Ag policy (all in the interest of cheap food) then they are almost certainly part of the problem detailed in the OP.

It is unsustainable, and when giant monocultures crash, the result is giant sized disaster.

You coddle your birds.

 

[jimbob86]

Well, it works for me, and if it doesn't, millions of birds don't die.

 

[Liberty For All]

You can buy Shatter Resistant heat lamps. You will pay more, but you will also have a safer feeling. Well at least I do with mine.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

You can buy Shatter Resistant heat lamps.  You will pay more, but you will also have a safer feeling.  Well at least I do with mine.

Be careful with shatter resistant bulbs, sometimes they are made with Teflon, which is toxic when heated to birds.

 

[StevenW]

I keep 6 hens, in the mountains of N. Georgia where January nights are in the low 20's and colder. I have a heat lamp which I mounted on a piece of 2x4 so it is halfway between the floor and the roof and halfway between the walls, right in the center of the coop. Coop is 8 feet long, 4 feet wide and 4 feet high, elevated 4 feet off the ground. My hens love it, and instead of 3-4 eggs per day I generally get 4-5 per day in the winter! I've used this for 3 years so far and am more than happy with it. My girls free range all day, but when they get chilled, they head for the warmth of the coop, drop an egg, and head back out to forage. I feel it's one of the best things I ever did for them....

 

[TalkALittle]

I keep 6 hens, in the mountains of N. Georgia where January nights are in the low 20's and colder.  I have a heat lamp which I mounted on a piece of 2x4 so it is halfway between the floor and the roof and halfway between the walls, right in the center of the coop.  Coop is 8 feet long, 4 feet wide and 4 feet high, elevated 4 feet off the ground.   My hens love it, and instead of 3-4 eggs per day I generally get 4-5 per day in the winter!  I've used this for 3 years so far and am more than happy with it.  My girls free range all day,  but when they get chilled, they head for the warmth of the coop, drop an egg, and head back out to forage.  I feel it's one of the best things I ever did for them....

Do your birds ever try and roost in the 2x4? I don't think I would feel safe with a heat lamp only 2 feet off the floor. What is the temp in your coop when it's 20*F out and the lamp is on?

 

[jessthemess]

I live in Canada, (2 hours north of Toronto), we have been getting temperatures of -17oC plus windchill making it feel like -35oC (you can check the oF translation - the suffice it to say it's cold!) My silly girls are also moulting, all 5 of them. I have always had a red heat lamp hanging over their watering area to keep the watering nipples from freezing. It is hung from the rafters about 3 feet off the ground. This has been my second year doing this, and I have not had any fires or close calls. It doesn't provide much warmth, but I feel better with it out there.

 

[StevenW]

it stays around 40-45 degrees in there when the temps are 20ish....

 

[StevenW]

they will roost near it, never been a problem.