heating a 4x4x4 coop in the winter

[patandchickens]

Gee, unless your coop is made of tinfoil or soemthing like that, a 150w bulb would make it *awfully* toasty in there. Also being a fire hazard.

I would suggest three things.

1) read my "cold coop" page (link in .sig below) and maybe some other BYC threads about chickens and cold, to educate yourself about what chickens do well with.

2) buy a max-min thermometer and mount it in the coop next to the roost, and get in the habit of checking and resetting it every morning so you can get a sense of what your actual coop temps are.

3) Turn off the lightbulb for now, unless you live in Nome, Alaska you're unlikely to need it; and when-and-if you DO think (based on chicken behavior and health) you may need to add heat, start with like a 40w bulb and see if that's enough. (If it's not, try a 60w, etc). Using as low wattage as possible is not only financially sensible, it is also much SAFER. ANd you may well find you don't need to add any heat anyhow.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[woodmort]

Quote:
Any heat is too much. In a 4 X 4 X4 coop the chickens will supply their own heat--anything you add will make them too warm. Read some of the other threads about coop heating in the Chicken Management section!

 

[Carrie Lynn]

There are some posts about a heater you can make yourself using x-mas lights, a section of pipe and a hot water tank thermostat.
There is a youtube address showing how to wire the thermostat, it looks easy.
I might make one just in case we get an extreme cold snap, but only then.
I'd google it, it sounds like it would be just enough...

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=418717&p=1

 

[elmo]

If nevertheless you do want to use a heat lamp, be sure to follow safety precautions. Make sure the lamp is 18 inches or more away from any surface: roof, walls, floor. Make sure it is held in place by at least two methods not just the clamp of a clamp lamp (those come loose frequently). Make sure the bulb is covered with a guard so chickens can't fly up and burn themselves from contact with the bulb. And whatever arrangement you come up with, consider that one or more of your chickens is likely to try to roost on it and think about whether they could get entangled and trapped on it.

 

[CityChook]

I'm with Elmo. In a 4x4x4 coop, I'd be concerned that the heat source wouldn't be high enough out of reach for the ding dong chooks to keep from burning themselves on it. Unless it's genuinely c.o.l.d. -- like where I am -- you probably don't need heat. Give them plenty of shavings to cuddle up in, and make sure the roost is wide enough for them to sit flat and tuck their toes under their bellies. And if you have the ability to add a southern window to let in sunlight (and free heat), add that too.

 

[Judy]

Quote:
Anything above about 25 below zero F.

 

[Judy]

Quote:
If they can they will leave the coop.

You need to tell us where you are. Almost no one on this planet needs heat in their coop. Chickens live in Alaska just fine without heat.

 

[woodmort]

Quote:
That's because all the heat is going out the copula--it rises. In other words, your wasting money, putting your chickens in fire danger and not really adding much of any heat anyway. As Pat said, shut it off and use the money you save to buy a bag of scratch, toss a handful to them each night and they'll do better.

 

[patandchickens]

The way to find out what temp it is in there is to mount a thermometer in there. Personally I like max/min units but even just a plain ole "tell ya what temperature it is right now" unit is informative. As long as you look at it as soon as you open the door, the incoming cold air will not be affecting the number you see.

As previous poster notes, there is little point in parking a heating appliance immediately under a vented cupola, as heat rises and you're mostly just heating the great outdoors that way

Pat

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

I wouldn't heat a coop that small--unless you're brooding chicks and even then...not with that hot of a bulb. I heat my 8 x 16 with a 250watt but I also have LOTS of chickens in there and I have less hardy breeds (bantams included) and lots of wet snow & wind.