heat source for inside a coop? need ideas please

[Imp]

Quote:
Sorry, you are not getting an answer to your question.
There are a lot of option you can use for heating your coop. Heat lamps, panel heaters, ceramic heaters etc.
With a coop the size of yours it would be very expensive to heat it completely, so maybe just a spot of heat, so the chickens can warm up. Keeping the water thawed would be nice. Save some work as well.
Heating is your choice, after all only you know your chickens and set up. It does not cause the problems atributed to it. Google for information (there is a lot on both sides of the discussion)
Thank you for the pictures. It looks like a nice coop.

Imp

 

[Darklingstorm]

Thank you all. Now I'm not worried about them getting too cold anymore. Going to go change the light to a "no heat" light, so I can still keep an eye on them. I'm about to add 5 more to the coop now that they are big enough and can eat the same food. My 9 older girls are 9 months and the ones adding are now 3 1/2 months old.

I only worried because when I was kid and lived in Washington State, we lost a couple of hens that froze to death on the nests. I do NOT want to relive that, ever.

 

[scooter147]

Just make sure their water doesn't freeze.

The only thing I see from the pictures is, it looks like there are cracks by the upper roosts. You want to keep that draft off them while roosting. I little duck tape should take care of that.

Never lost a bird to the cold, hot weather, another story.

 

[Eggcessive]

I probably wouldn't keep a light on in my coop at night if you want your chickens to get rest. Mine comes on at 5:30 AM to give them a little extra light in the winter for laying well. From everything I read you just need to provide lots of ventilation up high to get rid of the moisture in the winter--as long as it is dry and no direct drafts they can tolerate the low temps.

 

[JackE]

I would not keep a light 24hrs a day. The chickens need to sleep. Good idea to get away from the adding heat plan. I think your coop is possibly not going to be ventilated enough. I don't really see any vents, just some gaps at some wall/ceiling joints. If you notice frost forming in there when the weather gets really cold, That's a clue that your ventilation is not up to the job, and you are going to have to supply more. With 14 birds in there, it practically a sure thing you are going to need more ventilation than you have now. Chickens generate alot of moisture, Don't seal them up in a box, it doesn't work out too good for them.
Jack

 

[Chinchilla2]

So long as you don't have any serious drafts in there, when the chickens head in for the night they will generate enough heat to stay warm throughout the night. Duct tape or caulk to seal off the larger draft admitting crevices, close the door, and they will be snug and comfy in no time. You may find that you have to pull some of that caulk or duct tape back off after awhile. Either that or prop open one of the windows a bit.

If you have a thermo that keeps track of the temp over a 24 hr period of time, find a good spot in the coop where it won't become a play-toy and put it out there overnight. You might be surprised at just how warm it actually stays in there even when you drop to below freezing outside.

 

[Nicole01]

I know most people don't agree with heaters, but I've known chickens dying here when it's -22F. We are using a heater on the lowest setting under their roost(12 inch wide shelf) mainly to keep the waterer from freezing. I won't use it until I absolutely need to. Our coop is fully insulated inside our garage. We covered the run with plastic, so that will help keep the coop warm during the day.

Here is our heater.

 

[featherz]

We got down to - (MINUS) 26 last year and stayed double digit below zero for some time. No heat, and I had banties and non cold tolerant birds like white leghorns. All did fine without any heat at all all winter. They didn't even seem to notice the cold!

 

[JackE]

There's a guy here from Wyoming who has his chickens running around in -35 temps with no added heat source. He doesn't have any chickens freezing to death. If somebody's chickens are freezing to death, I'll bet it has more to do with the way they are being kept/housed in the cold weather. You take a bunch of chickens and pack them into a tight box/coop, with little to no proper ventilation, You might as well have packed them into a gas chamber. They NEED plenty of fresh air flow/exchange, even in winter. Just them breathing in a tight, poorly ventilated cold space, the humidity will rise up and coat everthing with frost, INCLUDING the chickens. This is not just an opinion, it's FACT. This has all been proven years ago. Plenty of information out there about it. Unless you have a featherless or some other kind of thinly feathered chicken, They donot need added heat. But they DO need plenty of fresh air exchange in their coops.
Jack

 

[Darklingstorm]

Quote:
There are actually 6 vent windows on the coop, they are closed in the picture, but I normally keep them open.