How cold before you need a heat lamp?

[patandchickens]

Quote:
500 watts for a coop in *New Jersey*????

<falls over in shock>

(I grew up just N of Philly, and lived outside New Brunswick NJ for several years, so I do know the climate)

Your neighbor needs to sit down and work out how much he is paying for that on his electric bill. Even if your rates down there are lower than they are up here (I really have no idea anymore), that is a nontrivial amount!!

You absolutely for sure, positively, without question, do not need anything like that. Frankly, unless you have poorly chosen breeds or a very poorly managed coop, you should not need even a 250w lamp... if you wanted to run *anything*, a 100w regular lightbulb would probably do all that you required, and quite honestly unless you are laboring under poorly chosen breeds or real poor management you should not even need THAT. Healthy chickens of reasonable breeds are FINE down well towards 0 F (that's INDOOR temp, which will generally be noticeably higher than outdoor temp) and quite frequently well below it.

Five hundred watts for a backyard coop. Wow

Pat

 

[Equus5O]

Pat,

LOL

I didn't say that's what I wanted to do! There had to be some guy misunderstanding thing going on between my husband and the neighbor. 500 watts is rather intense! I keep telling my husband that I don't think we'll need any type of heat source in the coop during the winter.

He's the guy that said that once he finished the run, etc. that he wouldn't have anything else to do with the chickens. Now, he's worried that the beasties are going to freeze during the winter. I highly doubt it. But, I'm willing to put strips of plastic, or whatever, on the chicken door to alleviate the draft during the day.

Our chickens are mostly Rhode Island Red and Leghorn crosses, and Red Stars (or whatever you'd like to call them). We do have two Polish, but I'm hoping that they can repress their Polish-ness (yes, I'm politically incorrect, but as I'm half Slovak, I'm sure I can say that), and go into the coop when they're cold.

 

[gsim]

I have 24 that are 13 weeks old. They are all outside for some time now. I am in Tennessee, so winter is not a concern here for me. I do know that chickens are raised successfully in Canada in sheds open on one side to the south. I suspect straw bedding is put in there to provide an alternative to roosting overnight. An old saying is that the healthiest chickens come from the sorriest coops. Drafts are killers for young chicks, but overheating kills more adult chickens than cold does from what I have learned. I would be very careful to insure adequate ventilation even during cold weather. The fumes in a henhouse can cause lung troubles for the birds if they build up, and chickens are very prone to lung troubles. They wll snuggle together on their roosts when it is cold. You could also put loose straw in the corner to see if they use it overnight in really cold weather. Roost area must be not in a drafty place during cold weather, but should be in warmer weather. All of my windows will be shut in cold weather and I will set the two guillotine-style pop doors to allow only a little outside air in overnight. Metal roosts are bad too as they get so cold that they will draw the heat from the feet of the birds and could cause frostbite. Humidity buildup must be avoided at all costs in all weather for both danger of frostbite and also for danger of disease and lung problems. I keep a large dial type thermometer on the wall of my coop. It is 8 x 16 and has two gable vents and a turbine vent in the center, and 4 windows, none on the north side.

 

[Sissy]

500 watt wowww
someone is going to have roast chicken.
I use a 125 watt heat blub to keep the water from freezeing. but the cx, all just 18months old have been fine last winter and it was really coldddd.. I put down wood shavings 2-3ft. deep.
for 4x8 with added run for 8 layers and 1 roo.

 

[speckledhen]

I do not heat my coop. We sometimes get down to 0-5 degrees overnight.

Remember, chickens themselves generate so many BTUs each so their collective body heat will help keep them warm, plus feathers are great insulators! They won't feel as cold as you do at certain temps. Just be sure the coop is dry, dry, dry to prevent frostbite and that means you must have high-up ventilation all winter long to let moisture from their poop and respiration escape.

If you heat them during winter, that will weaken them--what happens when electric goes out and they are used to being toasty warm? See what I mean?

 

[rstampa]

Quote:
Any one for roasted chicken? My God woman, tell you Hubby that you roast your chicken at 350 degrees in the oven. Maybe that will convince him. I lived in the burbs of Philly and it really gets cold out there. I never used any heat source. Even when it went below 0.
Have a great day and keep warm "You Chicken lover you"

 

[Amethyste]

We get cold here near Puget Sound. We never use heat in the coop over winter unless it is extreme circumstances...and even then it has to be REALLY cold. The coldest it has gotten here since I can remember was last year with lows in the 5-10 degrees F range, and highs that were like 15 degrees. **We DID use a heat lamp last year tho for them...we only had 2 hens left from the original flock and we were afraid they would not be able to generate enough heat to keep warm with just the two of them. Now we have a full 9 birds again so they should be fine!!**

They put off an awful lot of heat all by themselves...as long as they are dry and out of drafts, and have adequate ventilation, AND have drinkable water they will be ok I think.

We are putting heavy plastic sheeting cut into strips over the pop door so we can cut out some of the wind etc that can shoot in thru it.

We will put a heat bulb in this year tho but only over the water to keep it from freezing. That seems to be the main issue with us is the water freezing so easily.

Other than that they do great in the winter!! The coop isnt insulated...I feel it would be too problematic for them to go in and out and have temperature changes like that. It would just make it too screwy so we dont bother. We make sure that the feeder is full and they have plenty of things to keep them busy...treat blocks, hanging veggies to pick at, and so on.

We dont provide light in the winter either. There are skylights in their roof that give plenty of light. That gets them up and moving and blood flowing etc to keep them warm

I have heard tho that corn takes longer to digest and helps them keep warm. I dont know if that is true or not...but in the afternoon I take them out a pan of cracked corn and let them fill up. They are happy and I feel better lol

 

[CMV]

The coldest day of the year up here in NH last year was -25 degrees with a vicious wind, so if you factor in the windchill it was blisteringly cold that day. I put a heat lamp in the girls' coop because I felt bad for them and they acted like I was cooking them. They refused to go near the coop and instead stood in the corner of their run farthest away from the coop.

Ingrates.