Heating coop in NewEngland

[nuttyredhead]

Im not to far from you either, no heat here. After reading way to many posts about fires due to heat lamps (and my husband being a fireman!) we decided no heat. We lose power here from time to time, I think it would be worse to have them used one temp, then lose power and have it drop to something they are not use too. This way they have been getting used to the temps as they have dropped. My coop is 8 x 16 and I have 11 Bantams.


What kind of chickens do you have?

 

[pontoosuc]

I'm in far western MA, on the MA/NY border. Richmond.
10x16 shed 1/2 of which is for the chickens.
Uninsulated, not heated, 16 chickens.

The more I read here on the forums, I'm not going to insulate, nor heat.

They need access to water, food, draft free dry space.

I do let them eat some scratch just before going to roost.

 

[augustwest]

I'm in Lunenburg (right near Pep) and we are not heating. We have an insulated coop with great wind block. I have straw in the nest boxes and a goot thick layer of shavings on the floor. A few nights ago, it was bitter cold (Monday) and I turned on a heat lamp for an hour to take the chill off the coop. All the girls were squished to one side to get away from it!

I bring in fresh water in every am since theirs is frozen solid. And, I'm making sure there is lots of wind block for them outside.

BTW, I'm totally new to chickens. But, I've decided to not heat. We lost power for 2 weeks in December of 2008. If I had whimpy chickens used to being heated, they'd have really suffered during that time.

 

[BrewedInNh]

Hi Kevin,

I'm about 30 miles from you.

I have to agree with the other New Englanders. No heat needed.

We have 6 hens in a 6x4x4 insulated coop. Their body heat keeps the indoor coop temp 15 degrees above the outdoor temp overnight, even on the single digit nights we've had. We open the pop door to their run at 6:00am, they climb over each other to get out and play. They really don't seem too effected by the cold.

My other hobby has an old expression that fits here... Relax, don't worry, have a homebrew.

 

[chickensducks&agoose]

I don't heat, but i lost my tiny mille fleur bantam roo last night. he is our very first loss to cold. I feel very sad, and yes, it was -3 last night. we've had it down to -20, with no losses in previous years, i guess i should have really thought about cold hardiness when I bought chicks this past spring... but i didn't... I might move the more at-risk ones (fayoumis, the MFB hen, and the anconas (?)) into a smaller coop that I could heat more easily than the big giant coop. i feel really bad though.

 

[jjthink]

So sad about your little guy.

Yeah folks, it really depends on the bird. I say this all the time. There is no across the board answer that applies to all birds. My roo BJ is not cold tolerant. Period. No if's, and's or butts. If it's below 40 degrees he is miserable. But in the summer when other birds are struggling he is one happy camper - has never once panted, not even at 110 heat index. His buddy Ellie is fine in the cold and utterly compromised in the heat. I know I will lose BJ if I make him endure below freezing weather for any length of time. Next week's frigid forecast is already weighing on me - they are going to be cooped up A LOT.
JJ

 

[Dark Dozens]

I'm from Western Mass and I am very new to raising chickens. This morning the temperature outside was 6 degrees but the temperature inside the coop was 26 degrees. I have a well insulated 5 by 6 coop with 8 chickens. I did invest in a water heater after the water froze in November. I've also been giving my chickens a cup full of scratch grains just before dark. Because I'm new to raising chickens, I am constantly checking on them to make sure they're comfortable. So far, so good.