Heat Lamp

[BarredCometLaced]

Hola!
We live up in NH, and our winters get very cold. Our coop is too small to be feasibly insulated, and i was wondering if they would need a heat lamp. I am getting mixed reviews from my friends who have chickens. One says yes they should have extra heat, and the other says that they can stay warm by themselves.

The three chickens are Barred Rock, Wyandotte, and Golden Comet. Do you think they'd need extra heat?

 

[Fred's Hens]

Hey!

Come on over to this thread: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=421122

Real, live, experienced flock keepers and cold climate folks from Alaska on down chat about keeping birds. There's lots of reading. Good, factual, experienced reading. In short? No. You don't need to add heat.

 

[Ridgerunner]

That depends a lot on what your coop looks like. If it is well ventilated yet there is no draft on them when they are sleeping, they will probably be fine. But if you have a coop where a breeze can blow on them when they are sleeping or where the moisture is trapped inside, you could have problems. You get good ventilation yet keep breezes off of them by having all the winter ventilation well above their roosts. Any breezes from the ventilation passes over their sleeping heads.

I know it does not get that cold here where I am, just a little below 0 Fahrenheit most years, so I probably don't have a lot of credibility with you. The lady that wrote this article was in Ontario. It may help you. I'll include her ventilation page too. She is pretty good.

Pat’s Cold Coop (winter design) page:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=1642-winter-coop-temperatures

Pat’s Big Ol' Ventilation Page
https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=1642-VENTILATION

 

[dawj]

NH here as well.

Everyone I know personally here in NH uses a 40 watt bulb that turns on about 4am for light this time of year (more light = more eggs). This can be bad though if you have a noisy roo (not good at 4am lol) . My inlaws lower the roost by 3 inches in front of the window so the cold winter winds will not blow directly on the hens. I also know another person who has the light hooked up to a thermostat so its not below a certain temp in the coop. Look up to see if your chickens are a hearty breed or not. Some breeds don't handle cold as well as others. I myself just have a 40 watt bulb in a timer to come on around dusk and stays on for 2 hours and shuts off. Now its mid october and light comes on about 5pm. last night the hens went in about 5:40 though becasue it didn't get dark til then but the past week its been about 5pm. Many people say light plays a big roll in fall and winter laying. 12-14 hours min. of light.