Heater for a coop ideas

[PonderingKiwi]

Our coop is a shed that was converted into a dog run. We converted it into a coop with a chicken run. Pretty convenient tbh. We insulated it before it got too cold and it’s been pretty good all winter.. until now. Sadly.. we had a casualty today. My husband went outside to check on everyone and found a lady frozen solid. No idea how she died.. we assumed she froze to death because our rooster has big swollen frostbitten wattles and frostbite on his comb. He also had ice on his back somehow. Super heartbreaking state of affairs. We borrowed a couple dog crates and brought everyone inside. Which is loud and quite stinky.. but I love my ladies.. I’m crushed we lost one. We put two heating lamps out there when we saw it was going to get into the -20s.. but they can’t keep up with the cold apparently. So we need something that can. The coop is 10x10x10ish. Does anyone have any ideas for what can heat that big of an area while also not setting our coop on fire? We’ve been scouring the internet, but everything that look like they definitely would help so expensive.. it’d be really crappy to buy/order something just for it to not work any better than the lamps did.

And if anyone knows anything to help Ronald.. he’s warm now. We *carefully* put some Vaseline on his comb.. and all I found online was that it could help so we also gave him a baby aspirin.. I know it’s gotta hurt and my nonmedically trained brain thought “aspirin is a blood thinner for people.. maybe it’ll help increase blood flow to the affected area and help bring it back”. Idk if that’s how it works.. but if nothing else, I know his face hurts. Tearing up thinking about it tbh… he’s such a good man to his ladies, he deserves better than this. They all do a couple of the hens with bigger combs have some frostbitten tips too.. and one lady has a little pointy piece that turned white? Which I think is unrelated, but looks odd. A couple ladies were also sneezing a lot. We did our best to separate them (hard with so little space to work with) and smeared some vetrx on their noses/combs.

PS. It wasn’t our naked neck lady, Edna, if anyone’s kept up with our naked chicken saga. We had already brought her inside thinking she’d be the most susceptible. Glad we did.

Side question: one of their poops had a big long whiteish worm looking thing in it. Google tells me it’s roundworm. We’re gonna buy safeguard tomorrow.. my question is, does that give them awful diarrhea? Should we not treat them for it with them indoors or would being able to clean their bedding once a day help with this? I just don’t want a bunch of explosive diarrhea chickens stuffed together in a dog crate in the house stinky.

 

[DobieLover]

We *carefully* put some Vaseline on his comb

It is best to leave frostbit tissue alone and not touch it. The vaseline will do absolutely nothing for it and it won't prevent frostbite either.

Idk if that’s how it works

It doesn't. Once the water in the cells of tissue freezes, the cells burst and die. If just a few cells freeze, those will be cleaned up by the body and the area can heal. If you are seeing black or dark red swollen tissue at the edges of the wattles and tips of the combs, that tissue is dead and it will eventually fall off as the underlying tissue heals.

The only thing you should do until the dead tissue sloughs off is monitor for infection and only then intervene with antibiotic treatment.

bigger combs have some frostbitten tips too

In temps as low as you experienced, some frostbite is inevitable in large combs and wattles. It is one of the reasons to avoid large combed birds in regions that can experience such low temperatures.

My rooster lost just his comb tips 5 years ago when we hit -23F. No other bird was affected. He is a SF with a single comb. One of his sons from this years hatch has a pea comb. He will be kept as the second in command flock rooster to replace his father when he passes. I chose him for his behavior and that tight comb that will not suffer frostbite in brutally cold temperatures.

sneezing a lot.

This is a possible indicator that your coop is not well ventilated. That is the number one cause of severe frostbite in freezing temperatures.

smeared some vetrx on their noses/combs

VetRX is snake oil. It does nothing to treat disease. I would just throw it out.

poops had a big long whiteish worm looking thing in it

Yes, your flock has roundworms and you should treat them. To use fenbendazole, get some Safeguard liquid goat wormer from your local farm store and dose them at a rate of 1/4 ml of wormer per pound of body weight per bird then repeat in 7 to 10 days.
Because your birds have frostbite, I would put their wormer dose in pieces of bread that you can feed to them. Make sure you dose each bird alone so that no one can steal the bread from them and get overdosed.

does that give them awful diarrhea

Yes, it does.

Can you please post pictures of your coop including all of your permanently open ventilation?

This is my uninsulated, unheated coop:

This picture was take when it was 5F. The previous night was sub-zero. All the light coming in up high is open (and fully secured with 1/2" hardware cloth) plus there is a ridge vent and the pop doors are never closed so there is always a flow of fresh air pushing out the damp stale air.

When it get brutally cold you can take the chill off the birds with radiant panel heaters if you feel they are uncomfortable. But heating the entire coop and trying to keep it above freezing is never a good idea. Mostly because if you have it closed up enough to keep in heat, you are also keeping in moisture and ammonia vapors and the air quality will suffer greatly. Bird have delicate respiratory systems that don't tolerate poor air quality.

And what happens when a tree falls on a power line during a nasty winter storm and you lose power and the coop is very suddenly plunged into normal ambient temperatures when the flock has acclimated to the heated coop? That kind of stress is deadly.

I'm very sorry you lost one of your hens and you are now dealing with severe frostbite. Getting proper ventilation into the coop is critical for them.

 

[PonderingKiwi]

It is best to leave frostbit tissue alone and not touch it. The vaseline will do absolutely nothing for it and it won't prevent frostbite either.

It doesn't. Once the water in the cells of tissue freezes, the cells burst and die. If just a few cells freeze, those will be cleaned up by the body and the area can heal. If you are seeing black or dark red swollen tissue at the edges of the wattles and tips of the combs, that tissue is dead and it will eventually fall off as the underlying tissue heals.

The only thing you should do until the dead tissue sloughs off is monitor for infection and only then intervene with antibiotic treatment.

In temps as low as you experienced, some frostbite is inevitable in large combs and wattles. It is one of the reasons to avoid large combed birds in regions that can experience such low temperatures.

My rooster lost just his comb tips 5 years ago when we hit -23F. No other bird was affected. He is a SF with a single comb. One of his sons from this years hatch has a pea comb. He will be kept as the second in command flock rooster to replace his father when he passes. I chose him for his behavior and that tight comb that will not suffer frostbite in brutally cold temperatures.

This is a possible indicator that your coop is not well ventilated. That is the number one cause of severe frostbite in freezing temperatures.

VetRX is snake oil. It does nothing to treat disease. I would just throw it out.

Yes, your flock has roundworms and you should treat them. To use fenbendazole, get some Safeguard liquid goat wormer from your local farm store and dose them at a rate of 1/4 ml of wormer per pound of body weight per bird then repeat in 7 to 10 days.
Because your birds have frostbite, I would put their wormer dose in pieces of bread that you can feed to them. Make sure you dose each bird alone so that no one can steal the bread from them and get overdosed.

Yes, it does.

Can you please post pictures of your coop including all of your permanently open ventilation?

This is my uninsulated, unheated coop:
View attachment 3727705
This picture was take when it was 5F. The previous night was sub-zero. All the light coming in up high is open (and fully secured with 1/2" hardware cloth) plus there is a ridge vent and the pop doors are never closed so there is always a flow of fresh air pushing out the damp stale air.

When it get brutally cold you can take the chill off the birds with radiant panel heaters if you feel they are uncomfortable. But heating the entire coop and trying to keep it above freezing is never a good idea. Mostly because if you have it closed up enough to keep in heat, you are also keeping in moisture and ammonia vapors and the air quality will suffer greatly. Bird have delicate respiratory systems that don't tolerate poor air quality.

And what happens when a tree falls on a power line during a nasty winter storm and you lose power and the coop is very suddenly plunged into normal ambient temperatures when the flock has acclimated to the heated coop? That kind of stress is deadly.

I'm very sorry you lost one of your hens and you are now dealing with severe frostbite. Getting proper ventilation into the coop is critical for them.

I dont know how to quote like that so I’ll try to reply in chunks.

We put Vaseline on it in an attempt to stop it from drying out more. Aside from the black bits.. the reder bits are dry and white. Ashy. It’s been very very dry here.. even I’m cracking. Only his very tippy tips were actually black so I had assumed there wasn’t too much permanent damage.. the rest of the affected skin is kinda purpley. His wattles are swollen almost entirely.. not just the tips. Almost up to his chin. They aren’t black anywhere though.. more purpley to about half way up. I didn’t mess with those.. mainly because i don’t see anything I can do for them. They’re so swollen he’s having a hard time eating and drinking.. I read somewhere on here that I could gently massage them.. but I didn’t want to cause him more pain so I didn’t. He does have an enormous comb and super long wattles.. we got him from someone around here when he was a puff ball so we don’t know what he is and didn’t know he’d have such fabulous facial features. He was supposed to be an Easter egger, but he either isn’t OR he’s just not the small comb kind.

Our coop doesn’t have windows. But it’s got the detached roof like yours does and a “doggie door” that’s nearly always open. This had proven to be enough ventilation.. until now, I guess. We intend to put in a window in the spring so hopefully next year won’t be as difficult.

I’ve seen mixed reviews about vetrx. If nothing else.. they smell nice, I guess. Doesn’t hurt lil fancy face moisturizer

We had hoped to heat the coop exclusively in conditions like these.. not all winter long. And in theory.. just enough to keep them from freezing, but not enough to actually give them people livable conditions. If that looks like a bunch of radiant heaters (so noone gets left out and freezes to death from bullying) that’s fine. I don’t even know if there’s a way to heat a space to only like 30° or something. We’re just not sure which route to take, since this definitely isn’t working. Thankfully we only get super cold weather like this for a couple weeks a year so we don’t need to invest in a big winter long solution.

 

[littlecoopnextdoor]

I dont know how to quote like that so I’ll try to reply in chunks.

We put Vaseline on it in an attempt to stop it from drying out more. Aside from the black bits.. the reder bits are dry and white. Ashy. It’s been very very dry here.. even I’m cracking. Only his very tippy tips were actually black so I had assumed there wasn’t too much permanent damage.. the rest of the affected skin is kinda purpley. His wattles are swollen almost entirely.. not just the tips. Almost up to his chin. They aren’t black anywhere though.. more purpley to about half way up. I didn’t mess with those.. mainly because i don’t see anything I can do for them. They’re so swollen he’s having a hard time eating and drinking.. I read somewhere on here that I could gently massage them.. but I didn’t want to cause him more pain so I didn’t. He does have an enormous comb and super long wattles.. we got him from someone around here when he was a puff ball so we don’t know what he is and didn’t know he’d have such fabulous facial features. He was supposed to be an Easter egger, but he either isn’t OR he’s just not the small comb kind.

Our coop doesn’t have windows. But it’s got the detached roof like yours does and a “doggie door” that’s nearly always open. This had proven to be enough ventilation.. until now, I guess. We intend to put in a window in the spring so hopefully next year won’t be as difficult.

I’ve seen mixed reviews about vetrx. If nothing else.. they smell nice, I guess. Doesn’t hurt lil fancy face moisturizer

We had hoped to heat the coop exclusively in conditions like these.. not all winter long. And in theory.. just enough to keep them from freezing, but not enough to actually give them people livable conditions. If that looks like a bunch of radiant heaters (so noone gets left out and freezes to death from bullying) that’s fine. I don’t even know if there’s a way to heat a space to only like 30° or something. We’re just not sure which route to take, since this definitely isn’t working. Thankfully we only get super cold weather like this for a couple weeks a year so we don’t need to invest in a big winter long solution.

you don't need more than one panel heater if you go for it. Here is the kind that most people here recommend, if you go that route. It uses radiant heat so it doesn't heat up the space, just the bodies. Still important to make sure it's in a safe outlet and unplugged when not in use, etc: https://amzn.to/3Hkk3Eq

You should still post a photo of your set up if you can, lots of folks can make better recommendations based on what you're working with.

I'm sorry for you loss and that your rooster is having troubles

 

[PonderingKiwi]

you don't need more than one panel heater if you go for it. Here is the kind that most people here recommend, if you go that route. It uses radiant heat so it doesn't heat up the space, just the bodies. Still important to make sure it's in a safe outlet and unplugged when not in use, etc: https://amzn.to/3Hkk3Eq

You should still post a photo of your set up if you can, lots of folks can make better recommendations based on what you're working with.

I'm sorry for you loss and that your rooster is having troubles

Thank you! I’ll get a picture tomorrow

 

[DobieLover]

the rest of the affected skin is kinda purpley. His wattles are swollen almost entirely.. not just the tips.

He may lose the wattles and definitely the tips of his comb. Please post some pictures of the damage.

somewhere on here that I could gently massage them

Oooo. DON'T TOUCH THEM!!

But it’s got the detached roof

?? What you see in my picture is the predator proof attached run. That is why I can leave my pop doors open permanently.

“doggie door”

In chicken lingo they are called pop doors.

This had proven to be enough ventilation

It was never enough.

We intend to put in a window in the spring so hopefully next year won’t be as difficult

You need more than that but it's a great start. I recommend you install more than one and top hinge them.

Can you please post pictures of the coop? Including the roof area, the entire structure, inside and out? Soffit to gable and/or ridge ventilation well above the heads of roosted birds is best.

If that looks like a bunch of radiant heaters

You don't need a bunch. You can place a couple or a few at different locations along the roost but the goal is not to heat the coop. Radiant panel heaters are not designed or intended to heat the air in the coop. Just reduce the stress on the birds.

 

[BarnyardChaos]

because all four of my roosters have frostbite. One is so severe I believe I may have to cull him; It's down halfway into the meaty part of his comb.
(Yes, my coop is ventilated up high, no drafts, temps have been down to -16-F)

 

[DobieLover]

because all four of my roosters have frostbite. One is so severe I believe I may have to cull him; It's down halfway into the meaty part of his comb.
(Yes, my coop is ventilated up high, no drafts, temps have been down to -16-F)

Single comb?

 

[BarnyardChaos]

Single comb?

Oh yes, magnificent huge combs. Here's George, though it doesn't look as bad now as it did yesterday:

 

[littlecoopnextdoor]

poor guy. I don't' think you need to cull him! hopefully he makes a good recovery. are you able to move them to a garage or something closer to a few degrees below freezing for this cold snap? so the tissue doesn't keep getting damaged?