Smoke detectors sound good in theory, but in practice a) normal household smoke detectors work poorly, when they work at all, in high-dust barn environments -- I can tell you they are fairly useless in a horse barn, and chciken coops are even dustier; b) the batteries that power them tend to konk out at very low temperatures; and c) the chances of you hearing an alarm beeping in your coop outdoors across your lawn when you are in the front of the house are pretty small, and even if you did hear it, quite honestly it is rare to save chickens from a smoky coop and have them live.
Critter Crazed, have you looked at my Cold Coop page (link in .sig below) which discusses exactly this issue, you might find some useful information or ideas there.
In particular, it is vital to make sure you maintain GOOD VENTILATION all winter -- if you close the coop up tight in an attempt to hold in heat or keep out cold, you end up with humid air that will give chickens frostbite at much milder temperatures than they would in dry (well ventilated) air. This is *really important* for avoiding frostbite; and no, a couple of little hole-saw holes, or cracks between boards and roofing, do *not* constitute adequate ventilation.
Honestly, with your coop being smallish, you may not need much if any heat in there as long as you insulate well and maintain good ventilation. A droppings board cleaned every morning will also help keep the air dry (it removes about half the daily poo output right then and there, which is a major contributor of water vapor).
If you *do* decide you need to run something for heat, in a smallish low coop like that a 60-100w regular lightbulb would almost certainly be adequate. Much cheaper to run than a heatlamp and not nearly so much of a fire hazard (b/c of not getting as hot). You still need to wire it safely, and locate it such that chickens cannot burn their combs or break the bulb.
It is really really nice to have an electric water heater or heated waterer base, but not absolutely essential if you are willing to haul water out to them a coupla times a day.
DO insulate, though. If budget is an issue, you could stack hay around the walls and use styrofoam sheets scrounged from stores (that get it as packing material for mdse) on the top, covered with plywood or something similar. (You do have plywood ont he walls, yes, not just tarpaper? just making sure I'm understanding correctly).
Good luck, have fun,
Pat
Critter Crazed, have you looked at my Cold Coop page (link in .sig below) which discusses exactly this issue, you might find some useful information or ideas there.
In particular, it is vital to make sure you maintain GOOD VENTILATION all winter -- if you close the coop up tight in an attempt to hold in heat or keep out cold, you end up with humid air that will give chickens frostbite at much milder temperatures than they would in dry (well ventilated) air. This is *really important* for avoiding frostbite; and no, a couple of little hole-saw holes, or cracks between boards and roofing, do *not* constitute adequate ventilation.
Honestly, with your coop being smallish, you may not need much if any heat in there as long as you insulate well and maintain good ventilation. A droppings board cleaned every morning will also help keep the air dry (it removes about half the daily poo output right then and there, which is a major contributor of water vapor).
If you *do* decide you need to run something for heat, in a smallish low coop like that a 60-100w regular lightbulb would almost certainly be adequate. Much cheaper to run than a heatlamp and not nearly so much of a fire hazard (b/c of not getting as hot). You still need to wire it safely, and locate it such that chickens cannot burn their combs or break the bulb.
It is really really nice to have an electric water heater or heated waterer base, but not absolutely essential if you are willing to haul water out to them a coupla times a day.
DO insulate, though. If budget is an issue, you could stack hay around the walls and use styrofoam sheets scrounged from stores (that get it as packing material for mdse) on the top, covered with plywood or something similar. (You do have plywood ont he walls, yes, not just tarpaper? just making sure I'm understanding correctly).
Good luck, have fun,
Pat
