Heating the hen house in the winter

[patandchickens]

Another look at the subject of when/whether/how to heat can be found on my 'cold coop' page, link in .sig below.

Chances are, unless you are WAY farther north than nearly everyone else, you do not need to heat routinely and probably won't need to heat at all (although it is never a bad thing to have heat *available* should circumstances take an unexpected turn). Watch your chickens, you will see how they're doing.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[LynneP]

I'm pleased with my electric dog bowl, shown in the link below. We're insulated, live in zone 5a but had a brutal winter in 2008-2009. I also use light in the early morning, but we have not heated. Some of my hens are Buff Orp crosses and the others RIR crosses, so hardy- no comb issues in the cold.

Winter is such a worry for us, but the hens seem to like it!

 

[zowieyellowflame]

Does anyone know about young birds? I have 9 adults and the other 9 girls were born this summer. They are almost as big as the adults but not quite, I call them the teenagers. Mixed breeds of americana, rir, a black breed and also 3 barred rocks.
Tonight a couple were all fluffed up..... normal for this temp? Right now it is about -2 C outside and about +4 inside the coop. This morning it was about 0 celcius and there was a touch of ice in the water.
We are in the process of insulating but we are not finished yet. There is adequate non drafty ventilation.

 

[LynneP]

Young birds have a difficult time keeping warm- I'd suggest a huddle box for them in the coop until they have their full adult coat...it has been chilly, nice break for 2 days, hope it lasts...

 

[PandoraTaylor]

as we have already had -15 F I have already turned on the Red heat lamp in the coop, the water heater (suppsed to be under a plastic dish, is under a 3 gal metal waterer and already plugged in. Electric in hte coop is a surge suppressor with about 3 foot of cord on the outside of the coop, run 1 -100 ft outdoor extension cord to it.
the coop is insulated, and since I live where the temps can get to -65 F I have very little vents, as it creates drafts in my area, but I have the pop door open. Not all my chickens went in the coop even when it was cold. so the break we are having now at temps above freezing is a blessing while I try to figure out a new bigger enclosed coop that all can/ will go into.

 

[newdock]

I turn on the heat lamp when the temps dip below -15 and I hang it above their roost. I take them fresh water throughout the day in the winter as I don't have a way to keep it from freezing. I may look into that this year, but I figure it gets me outside...

I can appreciate that some people think chickens will fare better or be healthier without supplemental heat, but my chickens would have some serious frost bite problems without the heat lamp. I know this because my bulb burned out one year when it was -25 out and they were left overnight without it. My poor rooster's comb turned black and fell off in chunks. Definitely not healthier!! And I also feel badly for the 2 hens that are lowest on the pecking order so they have to stand at the 2 ends of the roost...the rest all get to be snuggled together, but they have one side that is exposed.

 

[Akane]

BOs shouldn't need heat even down to -20 or more. We had -30f for a few days last winter and while my bantams froze my standards were all fine. They were standing in the doorway with the wind blowing (I don't want to think what the windchill was like) staring at the snow and wandering about the coop like usual. My japanese bantams on the other hand frost bite quickly and don't do well below 0F which is why I just got an insulated bantam coop and a small radiant heater. Radiant heat will heat objects more than air. We used it in the house when the furnace wasn't working. We'd start feeling really hot so we'd turn it off and immediately start shivering because the air in the room wasn't much warmer than before it was turned on. The heater was heating us not air. I started in the horse program at a college and we had big radiant heaters set into the ceiling which felt very odd sometimes. You'd be sweating under your riding clothes while the air was still below freezing.

Unecesary heat is potentially harmful. Many people have caused respiratory illnesses in their rabbits or other small pets by thinking they could just bring them inside during really cold weather and leave them outside the rest of the time. The extreme changes in temperature make them ill. I also know of many horse stables that have illnesses go through all winter because they heat the stable and the horses can't take the cold when they go out for exercise.


Frostbite without very low temps is actually a sign of too little ventilation and too much moisture building up in the coop. You'll get more frostbite at 10F with lots of moisture than you will at -20F with a really dry coop. My chickens actually seem more miserable when it's just below freezing but rainy than in solid cold.

 

[willheveland]

Quote:
Exactly

[/img] Will

 

[fiddlehawk]

Thanks everyone! You've all been really helpful. I think I've decided not to heat, but will have a back up for emergenceies as suggested. We live in northern VT. It does get very cold but clearly some of you live in regions as cold or colder. The girls do have a nice, new hen house we built this sping from plans. It has ventilation at the top and the girls are free from drafts so we'll keep a close eye on them and hope for the best. thanks again

 

[cherylcohen]

I'm in northern CA and through the winter it's about 35-45 degrees at night. Our hen house has good venitlation and no real drafts to speak of. Should I be providing some heat at night?