Heat Lamps: When to add them

[VolailleAmant]

Hello,
I was wondering when is the best time to add my heat lamps for extra warmth in my coop? We tend to be on the low-budget side of chicken raising {like most}, and would like to hold off the heat lamps as long as possible until coldly needed. I am do realize that I a m sounding sorta abusive this way, I am sorry, but I love my birds and I am doing my best!

Thank you in advance!
-VA

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Skip the extra heat and the lighting. Both can mess birds up more than help them. Chickens are well insulated and can keep themselves warm. I am more north than you are and we get a lot colder here. Tonight we have -35 wind chills. I have had silkies and currently have frizzles. All have done fine.

Block the winds, provide proper roosts, warm water twice a day, warm mash on really cold days, access to sunshine, things like hay to stand on and to give them something to do. They will be okay.

 

[ejcrist]

Okay, I am sorry about that misunderstanding! It is about......Well, early teens. And the wind chills make it feel really cold.
I have Isa Browns, Pekin ducks, and my favorite.....Silkies. My Silkies are about 7 1/2 months, and my Isies are 2?
I usually refill the waterers throughout the day, because it freezes
Ha, okay, this might sound a bit OCD, but I like the glow of infrared lights, and the heat it brings (don't get me wrong....I don't sleep out there!) So I might just add the lights at night.
It drops like 5-10* at night in Michigan.
bunch!
Thank you a bunch.
-VA

Gotcha. I'm not familiar with silkies but if they're like other birds, which I'm sure they are, I'd think they'd be just fine without the supplemental heat. One thing to bear in mind if you're adding any kind of lights though is it would likely induce them to lay sooner/later into the year which could shorten their productive life. I don't know by how much but that's what a lot of people do that want their birds to lay into winter or earlier in the spring. Personally I just let my layers produce according to their own body clock since I believe that causes them a little less stress and prolongs their productivity. I just recently acquired some SOP birds and I definitely don't want to induce laying beyond their normal rate since good health is one of my breeding goals. Just something to think about if you hadn't considered it already.

 

[Mrs. K]

We had - 38 degrees F last night. Temperature reading, not wind chill. No heat lamp, mine are looking fluffy and active this morning.

Don't think warm, think DRY.

Mrs K

 

[micah wotring]

Ventilation and drafts are very important. I highly suggest you read up on it. Here's one helpful link I found.

 

[VolailleAmant]

Ventilation and drafts are very important. I highly suggest you read up on it. Here's one helpful link I found.

I have read many a book on drafts and ventilation. Thank you though! I 'll just read another link though, better safe than sorry right?!

 

[micah wotring]

Quote: XD is baisically Lol. It's supposed to look like a scrunched up face from laughing real hard.
You too!

 

[VolailleAmant]

XD is baisically Lol. It's supposed to look like a scrunched up face from laughing real hard.
You too!

OH! Now I see it.

 

[azygous]

Do. Not. Do. It. Heat lamps are incredibly dangerous. It just breaks my heart when I read about a heat lamp mishap burning down a coop and incinerating every single chicken.

I've had a chicken scorch her head on one when the lamp was nudged and it dropped down to an unsafe level. Thankfully she wasn't seriously burned, but I have heard of a rooster hitting a heat lamp and catching his feathers on fire and dying.

If you really must use a heater, get one of those electric oil filled heaters that don't get hot enough to burn when you touch them, and then I would only use the very lowest heat setting.

Most chickens, barring roosters with very large combs, do splendidly without heat of any sort, even in the most beastly of cold temps. It's better to heat your chickens from the inside with extra calories than to try to heat their coop. I give mine a pre-bedtime treat of BOSS and scratch grain for their crops to work on during the cold night.

 

[FlyWheel]

Unless it gets really cold, and I'm talking well below 0F, then nature has equipped the chickens with sufficient means of keeping themselves warm. Adding heat can actually be a detriment because it could prevent them from developing these defenses against cold, meaning they would be have to spend most of their time inside the coop (doesn't sound like much fun) or wind up totally defenseless if the source of heat is removed, like during a power failure (definitely not fun!).

And of course there is also the danger of fire and as far as lights are concerned; how would you like to have to try and sleep with the lights on all night?