Heating coop

[hugitnotnugget]

So I live in upstate NY and we get cold nights in the winter. Like below 0. So I always heat the coop on cold nights. Even then our bantam roster with huge wattles and a comb gets purple on top. I put Vaseline on sometimes to protect him. He hates it. Anyway.... I’m insulting it his fall but I still need to heat it. I’ve been using heat lamps but they go often and are a pain. I’m terrified of the coop catching fire btw. Any advice on wattages? Because I have not clue on that or what I’ve been buying. Or any other heating ways that are SAFE and effective! Thanks in advance!

 

[Cryss]

I bought myself a down jacket for winter blizzard temperatures. My chickens were born wearing theirs. If chickens aren’t allowed to acclimate to falling temperatures then when it gets frigid they might as well be naked. If power goes out there goes heat. I’m in Northwest NJ well above sea level and get zero and below in deep winter. No heat in my coops just good ventilation without drafts. Even in serious cold they insist to go outside. In 3 year’s I’ve lost one bird...in summer due to a reproduction problem, never in winter. No worries about fires.

 

[DobieLover]

I'm in Upstate NY.
I don't heat the coop. I too had a WLH with a huge comb. No frostbite with the lowest temp at -23F.
I have a dry, well ventilated coop.

All the light coming in up high is year round open ventilation along with the pop door under the board.

 

[21hens-incharge]

So I live in upstate NY and we get cold nights in the winter. Like below 0. So I always heat the coop on cold nights. Even then our bantam roster with huge wattles and a comb gets purple on top. I put Vaseline on sometimes to protect him. He hates it. Anyway.... I’m insulting it his fall but I still need to heat it. I’ve been using heat lamps but they go often and are a pain. I’m terrified of the coop catching fire btw. Any advice on wattages? Because I have not clue on that or what I’ve been buying. Or any other heating ways that are SAFE and effective! Thanks in advance!

What kind of and how much ventilation do you have?
What breed is the little rooster?

We get well below zero here. Even in a solid week of the high being a whopping 3°F with lows at -16°F no frostbite even on the leghorn hens.

Good ventilation will let the moist air rise and exit the coop. It is very important to have good ventilation.
That ventilation will make adding heat moot as that heat will be rolling out the vents not staying in.

 

[bobbi-j]

Minnesota here. Temps as low as -20s not uncommon. I don’t heat or insulate my coop. I have seen frostbite on my larger combed birds, but not every winter. I no longer get breeds with large combs and wattles. That helped solve that problem. Dry chickens are warm chickens. Think about late fall weather. Forty degrees, cloudy, drizzly, high humidity can be cold. Bone-chilling, actually. That same 40 degrees on a sunny day, low humidity and no breeze can feel pretty good. I know it’s not the same as a chicken coop on a cold day, but think about it. Cold and damp is far colder than cold and dry.

 

[RainbowHen]

Wisconsin here. We get below freezing for most of our super long winter. My coop is not insulated and I do not heat it either. Dry bedding and ventilation is your best friend. Only time I have ever heated my coop was for -65 weather and that was because I had young birds.

 

[aart]

My coop is insulated. I’m hoping these heaters with produce just enough heat to keep it above freezing so my water does not freeze. That is the only reason I’m heating the coop. I have a horizontal nipple watering system and am trying these heaters first to see if they will work.

Don't count in it.....even if you have no ventilation.
The tube between bucket and pipe will probably freeze first.
Heat the water, not the coop, for freeze free water in winter.

 

[WindingRoad]

What about the purple wattles? I'm not arguing, I genuinely don't know.

I don't use a heater because I'm afraid of fire, but we don't get too cold. And I have ducks.

Stop heating your coop. Do you have good ventilation. Chickens temp runs at 106F, They roost and cover up their feet. They grow a down coat. Just like some dogs they have two coats, their down one and their feathers. They snuggle together when it gets colder. If you start heating their coop as soon as it get cold ( to YOU) they won't grow their down coat. Chickens don't sweat, so they can't get rid of the excess heat your are providing. With heat and inadequate venting humidity builds up and the combs and birds get cold/wet

I also have a heat lamp ready to go on those -30F weeks.
I have my heat lamp attached to a locking connector hook that is attached to an eye hook in the ceiling. The heat lamp is on a timer and is never on all night long.

and hence frostbite. Keep your chickens DRY and they will be fine. Wash your hands but dry only one. Go outside when it's really cold and see how that wet hand feels.

If you have started heating already you might have to continue for this winter. But 0 F is nothing to chickens. What do you suppose the blue jays, the crows, the robins do in the winter. Not to mention the chick-a-dees we have here in Maine in the winter.

I kept 4 birds in an uninsulated coop without heat in the winter of '18-19 with temps -20- -30 and they were fine. Actually laid an egg every day that winter. Without a light even.

 

[Spot1984]

My coop is insulated. I’m hoping these heaters with produce just enough heat to keep it above freezing so my water does not freeze. That is the only reason I’m heating the coop. I have a horizontal nipple watering system and am trying these heaters first to see if they will work.

 

[Cryss]

I’ve tried Vaseline in the past but my rooster just ain’t having it. I gave up. Some breeds have very small wattles and combs. That’s always helpful but I do have big wattles too. You want to avoid frostbite which turns white, then black. Comb tips suffer most. Wattles dipping in drinking bowls are at risk. Nipples on a heated water help that. Ring waterers can be hung up pat height of a chickens back so the don’t hang their wattles down into water. As for combs, number one is a dry coop, no water inside, excellent ventilation, no direct drafts. If they are acclimated well they should be fine. I’ve observed that combs and wattles react to temperatures in much the same way a man reacts. And they lose color so they’re more pink than red. Purple is an oxygen thing, not temperature.