Heating the coop

[farmerbrowne]

Howdy all, i need to bounce some Ideas off yall. this past winter has been horrible with several days in the minus 36 celcius and a few minus 44. At one point we had to bring our chickens into the house for I could not keep the coop warm enough even with lamps.
I was think of making a wood boiler to heat the coop with. I have an old home heating oil tank and thought I would cut it in half, put copper tubing trough it. then run the lines into my coop to a couple car radiators mounted on the wall. does this sound dumb? I figure the antifreeze fill container will be my expansion tank and will use non toxic RV antifreeze in case of any acidental spills or leaks. I dont know of any pump I can use to push the fluid through the system so it will have to be gravity fed. I also figure since car rads have the fans already attached to them, I will leave them on it and have a car battery hooked up to run it. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[aussiegal318]

The biggest thing for chickens Is VENTILATION! I know you guys had a chilly winter, not so bad for us here in Minnesota ('13-14 was a kicker), but I took out my heater & they all did better. The problem is moisture builds up & that is what freezes combs & waddles. Chickens can handle the cold, they cant handle the moisture. If at time you need supplemental heat I would recommend a flat panel radiant heater. this time of year you might find one on sale at Target (online). On the Minnesota thread, we had a couple of fires from heat lamps in the last couple of years. I would worry about fumes & spills as birds are very sensitive to respiratory stuff.

Good luck with your coop

 

[farmerbrowne]

The biggest thing for chickens Is VENTILATION! I know you guys had a chilly winter, not so bad for us here in Minnesota ('13-14 was a kicker), but I took out my heater & they all did better. The problem is moisture builds up & that is what freezes combs & waddles. Chickens can handle the cold, they cant handle the moisture. If at time you need supplemental heat I would recommend a flat panel radiant heater. this time of year you might find one on sale at Target (online). On the Minnesota thread, we had a couple of fires from heat lamps in the last couple of years. I would worry about fumes & spills as birds are very sensitive to respiratory stuff.

Good luck with your coop

Thats why I was thinking a radiator for it is safer than lights. I always have ventilation, few vents on each side so I can select which to open as to not create a draft. I can see there being any fumes and am doing the non toxic route on the fluke rare chance there was a single drip. they should be bothered by the wood burner outside as it will not be close to the building to cause fires and I do burn wood to heat my home.

 

[PapaChaz]

I'm not sure 'gravity fed' is going to work though, the warm water will rise, so theoretically, have it rise from the heat source to the radiators, then able to flow back down to the heat source...........

I'd bet if you google it, you can find some doomsday prepper sites that will have something like what you want to

 

[bdjh]

Winnipeg here......personally, I think what you're proposing is overkill. They're chickens, not children.

I hang 2 radiant ceramic heat emitters (meant for reptile tanks) in my coop to avoid any chance of fire.I've tried interior car warmers, but they just choked on dust. The big, red bulbs just make the whole place look like a giant rotisserie, and I can't imagine they were pleasant for the birds. The ceramic heat emitters throw no light.

It takes the edge off, and we've had no frostbite.

 

[Blooie]

i used nothing. Tons of ventilation and no heat or insulation. My birds did just great. Not a single frostbitten comb or wattle. We did have a broody-hatched chick that ended up with frostbitten feet, but as aussiegal318 said that was the direct result moisture. He stood in a puddle of water that was freezing up. Wet feet + temp of minus 19 equals frozen feet that not even cuddling under Mama Hen could have prevented. He's fine now - his feet are deformed but he has no idea and we aren't gonna tell him either. And we still don't heat or insulate the coop. I'm in Northern Wyoming, not too far from Yellowstone Park and in a Basin between three mountain ranges. Like you, we do know cold!