Heat the coop?

[Swampwood]

Gotta keep the water liquid

 

[madimorg]

I have heat lamps in my coop that are set to a thermostat... They kick on when the coop hits 20 degrees and remain on til the coop reaches 30... then they don’t come on again til it drops to 20. I bought the thermostat at a poultry show. I keep the water in the coop on one of the water heaters to keep it from freezing... it kicks on automatically if the temperature drops below 30. I also go the heater pan at the poultry show but it is the same one that Tractor Supply sells. So far no major problems. I do keep bag balm on the rooster’s combs and on some of the hens with larger combs on these really cold nights.

 

[Patoot]

Well they all did okay last night. I have to do a more thorough inspection of their combs and wattles, but I didn't see any obvious frostbite yet. I gave them warm water, raisins, and warmed cooked brown rice this morning. I also put in a pot of hot water (covered with a lid so it doesn't get humid in there). I will keep refreshing their water. Right now it's 9:30am and only 1 degree, though it's -23 with the wind chill the weather report says. Tonight will be -6 (before wind chill). They have not come out today and they stayed in nearly the whole day yesterday too. It's VERY windy and unpleasant out right now.

My concern for them is more the drastic change in weather. I was doing yard work this past weekend in a t-shirt and now I'm wearing a hat in the house because it's so cold. They have experienced a couple single digit nights over this winter, but it's usually in the 20's at night. I know there are plenty of places that are consistently colder and people don't heat the coops and the chix are fine. I just worry about the drastic change.

So I can go get a ceramic heat lamp for tonight or I can hope for the best and hope no one gets frostbit or worse. The temps will go back up starting tomorrow and will be in the upper 40's this weekend.

So should I go get a ceramic heat lamp and hang it up in there for tonight or know they will be okay without it? Is there some reason I should not consider the heat lamp?

Thanks for the help guys.

Bree

 

[Patoot]

Well, so much for that. I've gone out to change their water several times and inspect them more closely. The frostbite is showing up. Poor things. Oddly, it's worse on the two littler ones that have the smallest combs. I'm gonna heat the coop just for tonight since it's supposed to be below zero and they've never had that before yesterday and today. I feel so bad. Will their combs be okay? I will get some vaseline too and put that on, but I'm hoping the already frostbit areas will heal on their own.

My poor girls.

Bree

 

[bluebird]

I have a 150 W ceramic heat emitter in one of the hanging lamps in our BirdHouse. When it gets in the low 20s and teens, I turn it on. My birds' water sits on a cookie tin heater which has a 40W bulb in it and I believe this also helps take the chill off inside. And they are on about 8" of pine shavings. I believe my birds are quite comfortable.

 

[CopperCT]

Quote:
I ended up doing the same thing during a below zero cold snap when a little frostbite started to show on one of the chickens. I got a 150 watt ceramic heat emmiter and it worked well. I only turn it on when temperatures go to the single digits or less but so far no safety issues and best of all no more frostbite on anyone. Given your drastic temperature change, having a little heat for them would make sense to me. Good luck and try to stay warm.