Heater or heat panel -10

[Ponypoor]

Hello all. First winter with chickens. I know they are are built for cold. We get the very cold weather in Iowa here. It was -15 last night. My friend borrowed me his TURBRO heater. I had it on in the 4x6x4 henhouse. I think it was 8 delegrees. Now here's my question. I don't think/want to heat the hen house. My wife thinks would be good just for the extreme cold days to keep it not so fridgide. I was looking at heat panels possibly? Maybe that might be a better option than an actual heat. Anyone have any thoughts on either?

So I guess you see the whole big kettle of fish this topic has opened


My suggestion is to see what others in your area do, then make your own decision. As you gain more experience you will figure out what works for you. Chickens are quite hardy, as long as they have a dry place out of the wind they should be fine. As with any livestock keep fresh water and clean feed in front of them, and when the weather warms up you can sit on your lawnchair and enjoy watching them peck around the yard.

After all I would say 90% of us have our chooks so that we can just enjoy some nice lawn ornaments roaming about - living conversation pieces!

Happy Christmas everyone

 

[DonyaQuick]

Yes. I did insulate the walls and and ceiling. Overhang ridges are vented as well as peak. We had another -15 day and temp in henhouse was down to low single digits. Again. Im not trying to heat it. Just seeing what others have done for those REALLY low rare times. And opinions on actually heat or if a radiant heat panelcwill suffice for rare occasion. I think end of day it what each owner want/think is best for their own situation.

It sounds like your insulation is actually doing really well! That's impressive.

I know what you're getting at as far as not wanting to heat the entire space vs making some warm in a more localized place, but from a safety standpoint, please still consider even low-wattage infrared panel heaters as "real heat" even if it only warms a localized area. Even though infrared-type panel heaters don't efficiently heat large spaces, some brands can still have quite hot surfaces.

Another caveat for the only-emergency-use kind of situation I haven't seen anyone else mention (but sorry if I missed it and this is redundant): your birds do need to be trained to the heaters to a degree, so they can utilize them if they want it, get away from them if they hate it, and at a minimum to not fear the heater. So you can't just pop a brand new heater into the coop on a true emergency day without risking roosting chaos. If you do decide to add one or more panel heaters this winter, make sure you expose the birds to them on a day when it won't risk seriously harming the birds if they decide to roost in stupid, abnormal places.

Also I saw a nother post somewhere in the thread that said chickens need to physically touch panel heaters to be warmed...that can actually be dangerous with some brands. Please test it and touch with your own hand before you decide how close to put it to the chickens. For example, if you get Producers Pride 250W panel heaters, birds really must have a way to get away from the heating surface of those since it becomes too hot in places for more than momentary skin contact. Cozy Coop and Sweeter Heater are less extreme in that regard but also lower wattage per heater size.

 

[Ponypoor]

Yes. I did insulate the walls and and ceiling. Overhang ridges are vented as well as peak. We had another -15 day and temp in henhouse was down to low single digits. Again. Im not trying to heat it. Just seeing what others have done for those REALLY low rare times. And opinions on actually heat or if a radiant heat panelcwill suffice for rare occasion. I think end of day it what each owner want/think is best for their own situation.

Insulation is an absolute in climates that get below freezing, otherwise the relatively warmer air inside the coop and the cold walls/ceiling will create condensation, which turns to frost, which will melt and so on etc, this will cause increase humidity and mould in the coop. Not to mention rot the building materials.

In your small area a radiant heater like a Sweeter Heater or Panel will do fine. Get a couple so you don’t have to worry about someone being left in the cold.

Sweeter Heater

 

[Ted Brown]

@Ponypoor Besides being Canadian, you have rare common sense and a sense of humour to boot!

Not sure where in Central Ontario you are but guessing we are very close to one another.

 

[SlaterFarm]

There are mentions here about some breeds being better acclimated to cold weather. We have eight Cream Legbar hens, no rooster, all born Feb 25, 2025. They have been laying nicely, but winter is now upon us.

Does anyone have data on how the Cream Legbars handle cold? We routinely go down into the 30's, sometimes below freezing, but in the past seven years I've been here we have not had frequent extremes like 10 or 20 below. I think we had a minus 10 for a couple of days two years ago but we didn't have the chickens then.

Thanks for any suggestions!

 

[Three Stents]

There are mentions here about some breeds being better acclimated to cold weather. We have eight Cream Legbar hens, no rooster, all born Feb 25, 2025. They have been laying nicely, but winter is now upon us.

Does anyone have data on how the Cream Legbars handle cold? We routinely go down into the 30's, sometimes below freezing, but in the past seven years I've been here we have not had frequent extremes like 10 or 20 below. I think we had a minus 10 for a couple of days two years ago but we didn't have the chickens then.

Thanks for any suggestions!

Google knows

 

[Ponypoor]

@Ponypoor Besides being Canadian, you have rare common sense and a sense of humour to boot!

Not sure where in Central Ontario you are but guessing we are very close to one another.

Where the snow never ends…… that’s were I am. Today I am cold stressed, I think my chooks were more keen to get out than I was, but the wind drove us all back inside. Brrrr!



Only 154 days… I can do it!

 

[Ponypoor]

There are mentions here about some breeds being better acclimated to cold weather. We have eight Cream Legbar hens, no rooster, all born Feb 25, 2025. They have been laying nicely, but winter is now upon us.

Does anyone have data on how the Cream Legbars handle cold? We routinely go down into the 30's, sometimes below freezing, but in the past seven years I've been here we have not had frequent extremes like 10 or 20 below. I think we had a minus 10 for a couple of days two years ago but we didn't have the chickens then.

Thanks for any suggestions!

All are unique individuals, each will handle it differently, overall youngsters I find do better than the older ones - isn’t that the way with all youngsters?

The best advice any of us can offer is keep them out of the wind and wet, give clean water and food, and a dry place to roost at night.

One thing I do is just stand and watch mine for about 10 or so minutes, just watch how each one interacts with the others - I don’t talk or acknowledge them I just observe. This way you see what’s normal. I know immediately when one of mine (or the horses) is ‘off’. Then you can start to ask yourself are they cold/hot, limping, fluffed up…. Observation is everything.

 

[Ted Brown]

Where the snow never ends…… that’s were I am. Today I am cold stressed, I think my chooks were more keen to get out than I was, but the wind drove us all back inside. Brrrr!



Only 154 days… I can do it!

Perhaps a bit further than I thought, I will guess the Kawartha Lakes area?

 

[Ponypoor]

Perhaps a bit further than I thought, I will guess the Kawartha Lakes area?

Georgian Bay Area, near Barrie - snowbelt heaven.

Under a yellow watch for snow squalls (ummmm what? Does that mean don’t eat yellow snow? ya you know I sent Env Cnd an email don’t ya haha).