How do you heat your coops

[Minniechickmama]

You have a good point. I've gone back and forth on this issue so many times. And I still have not fully decided just how I will do as this is my first winter with my own birds (years ago in my "relative" youth, I was put in charge of a flock of 25 or so. I shut the windows up good and tight as well-trained wife of a building contractor in the north country in the cold of winter would do.......and the birds got sick.(I'm sure it was a no-ventilation issure. I have had remorse about those days since I have "grown up and come to BYC". One bird died and the rest recovered and thrived)

We live in zone 2 in Northern Minnesota.....way north of southern Ontario.....and we are on a high plateau at the headwaters of the Mississippi River (Yup....the 3 springs that start that mighty river are each within 25 or 30 minutes from our home) (it's not just the parallel..it's also the elevation and the relative humidity and the wind and the coop and the kind of bird you have. AND the kind of winter you have Everybody knows there are winter-hardy birds and more delicate and more easily freezaable ones.....and that's why we like our Buff Orps...even though they eat like piggy-snarfers of the food.

Most folks up here give them a little something. One who did not, woke up to dead birds. That's all I know. I sure as heck do not plan to spoil them (19 of them). We have frost every morning now and it has dipped into the UPPER 20's.

Most of the OT's are from the south (and i love 'em to bits, BTW...for "keeping it real") do not, in their wildest imaginations, know what 30 below feels like. When it gets that cold, you will know that my insulatated, ventilated coop will be adding something to our electric bill.

So here is my (personally untested) advice for what some would call extremely cold winter areas..my plan...so far....today that is....

.......Oh Lord, help me know what to do!!

1. Have a good insulated coop with proper ventilation...higher than the birds so they don't get the draft. (Keep drafts
off the birds!)

2. Give them a nice deep bed of pine shavings to cozy up in when they're off the roost.

3. Make sure they have a least 4 " of flat side roost to cover their feet when roosting.

4. Keep them really well-fed with quality food and watered (ACV so gooooood for them). They burn calories to stay
warm. (just like human babies do....but let us not forget.....chickens are not human. We don't have feathers.

5. . Acclimate the birds with NO HEAT so they can adjust gradually to colder weather

6. When very cold weather hits (double digits and maybe even perhaps single digits above zero do not count as
really cold) (I start to waffle and second-guess here...it's...uh....that human maternal protective instinct)
restrain yourself (talking to me)

7. So now I think I will add to the total electric bill when we drop to zero. But a "toasty warm" coop I will not have.


Now....Gargoyle...I think your logic is valid. If we swing from weather that's hovered at 10 above for a good while to 25 below in one afternoon (and it happens), I believe they will need some heat help.........for the very same reason
those who are opposed to adding heat because of the potential of an electrical outage.

The common ground here is to work toward healthy birds and acclimate them so they could handle such stress.

And then we have to weigh in all the factors and make intelligent decisions....still listening to our 'gut', always observing the birds closely.

And hey.....anyone know if they make 150 watt red heat lamp bulbs?

In case you did not read my earlier post, I too live in Minnesota, though a couple of hours south of you, but we too get it pretty cold here and windchills dip way down below zero. I actually kick my chickens out of the coop every day. I feed them, or have until I started breeding, out into the mean cold to eat. I have smaller coops that I have to get them out of for their own good. I have yet to have any freeze to death out in the cold. It does them good to have fresh air. The harshest of days I only open the door and let them decide what to do. They are provided feed, fresh water and shelter. The losses I have had are those that had something else going on in the first place. But my new, uninsulated, open-air chicken house suits everyone just fine, including my Minorcas with the monster combs.

 

[karlamaria]

do you have a picture of this open air coop? I would love to see it

 

[Missa Chickabee]

In case you did not read my earlier post, I too live in Minnesota, though a couple of hours south of you, but we too get it pretty cold here and windchills dip way down below zero. I actually kick my chickens out of the coop every day. I feed them, or have until I started breeding, out into the mean cold to eat. I have smaller coops that I have to get them out of for their own good. I have yet to have any freeze to death out in the cold. It does them good to have fresh air. The harshest of days I only open the door and let them decide what to do. They are provided feed, fresh water and shelter. The losses I have had are those that had something else going on in the first place. But my new, uninsulated, open-air chicken house suits everyone just fine, including my Minorcas with the monster combs.

Good to meet you, MChM, felllow-Minnesotan! I am certainly with you there. I will be chasing them out their little door and keeping their food out there, too. Like i said....they are not going to be pampered. When we first moved here from PA we had a solid month of 20's below without the windchill. It's just plain colder here..colder than the Cities (lived in St. Paul a few years) and colder than Winnipeg where I grew up (5 hours north and in a warmer zone up there). All I am saying is that if it gets extreme enough I will consider adding a small wattage bulb to my well-wired coop. This is going to depend on what the interior temp stays at, too. Usually my coop is 10 degrees or so different from outside (cooler in the summer and now warmer with this cooler weather. Was 34 outside yesterday morning and 45 in the coop.

Any bulb I put up at the 9 foot ceiling outlet will be used judiciously...very judiciously. ( I have a GFC installed and the whole coop and side room were wired by a cert. electrician)

I would not encourage those who live in "warmer' places or have very small coop to use any heat at all...ever. Now , if one has a people-sized coop and the coop is for the people as much as for the chicken......Different people have chickens for different reasons. I know one lady on the forum whose body is wracked with constant pain and she is disabled but she gets to almost forget about it when she sits for long periods of time in her super-clean, very safely heated coop in the winter time. (the heater is in a large, sturdy hardwire cage and is untippable) I certainly don't judge her for that. But for sure she's not in the majority.

I believe you are so right in that most people on this forum should not heat....but they should be careful about the draft and ventilations factors. Just sayin'...as the OT's like to say....use your head. There are occasions when extreme circumstances call for modifications

A little 'aside' here: I once made a comment to someone from the deep south about the fact that if they add AC to their coop.....well, I just would not be able to find words to say. You take it from here......

But with that.....we know that chickens tolerate extreme cold but not extreme heat. But there is there not a limit for everything? Why did all Crystal's chickens die of the cold (I'll bet the wind blew through her coop at bird level)

Another aside: People up here don't have chicken pets ususally. Thery are utility for eggs or/and meat. Some keep lights on way into the dark for egg production. I don't plan to do that.

But I am not going to cull via the survival of the fittest, either. At least not yet. Maybe in time or altered circumstances I will be forced to change. Hunger alters sensitivities.

Have a blessed day. We are full of beautiful fall colors here now. My favaorite season.

PS: I reserve the right to be wrong about most things in life.

 

[aoxa]

AIN'T IT THE TRUTH!! I grew up in Southern California where 50F was winter coat weather. Figured you would die if it ever got to 40F. Been in VT for 33 years. Now 50F is "guess I should wear a long sleeve shirt today". If it is windy, a sweater or wind breaker might be in order. "really cold" starts around the time the snow squeaks when you walk on it, about MINUS 10F.   And the chickens, as has been pointed out, have not only down jackets, but also down neck , head and butt warmers. And they get better quality "accoutrements" if they are not living in heated spaces. Mother nature provides.

I can agree, however, if it is freeze your @ss off cold even when you are wearing everything you can put on, a little supplemental heat in the coop can't hurt. I'm thinking maybe the huge box the hardware cloth came in can sit in the corner, open side to the wall and if the girls are really cold, they can mush together in there and it will keep their heat 'close'. I'm doing deep litter so they already have inches of pine shavings.


Yep. I bought mine from Amazon. Didn't figure I needed a 250W for the brooder since it was a bathtub with a shower curtain in an unused bathroom. They came June 14th and even though we were wearing summer weight clothing, it was still nearly unbearable in there for us humans at 95F the first week! I put it on a remote sensing thermostat sold for reptile cages so I didn't have to worry about raising and lowering the lamp to keep the heat constant. 

It's the same with us here and heat. 80 degrees is unbearable. That's the temperature where the clothes come off and we all complain like we're on our periods - even the men.

This summer we became acclimated to the heat. June and July were really bad, and August was just as warm but we were used to it.

Funny how our body does not appreciate something we are not used to experience, whether it is hot or cold.

 

[Minniechickmama]

It's the same with us here and heat. 80 degrees is unbearable. That's the temperature where the clothes come off and we all complain like we're on our periods - even the men.
This summer we became acclimated to the heat. June and July were really bad, and August was just as warm but we were used to it.
Funny how our body does not appreciate something we are not used to experience, whether it is hot or cold.

I love people who are direct!

The 95+ weather we have been getting here is harsher than any winter weather. I have to go and put out 5 5-gallon waters in the pasture and every pen has one that stays full all summer. They seem to do well as long as they can find shade. I just wish I had a few trees already grown in the pasture, but I am working on it.

 

[Chukarbuds]

Before I answer you, what kind of water feeder do you have that you are trying to keep from freezing?

i have a rubber sorta bucket thing that farm animals eat/drink out of. Easier to kick the ice out of. i appreciate you telling me about cooking them out! I was worried bout that. I was thinkn a small wattage bulb but couldnt figure out how to keep it close to the water. I still dont know what to do. im not paying the ridiculous prices these stores have for feeders and waterers. Say im gone 24/7 and it gets below freezing? Perhaps have a neighbor help out? pls throw me some cheap suggestions? I looked at all the pics for waterers here but i dont wanna build anything like that. Electric and water scare me. Now I really have myself confused!! LOL pls help.. ????

 

[aoxa]

I love people who are direct!

The 95+ weather we have been getting here is harsher than any winter weather.  I have to go and put out 5 5-gallon waters in the pasture and every pen has one that stays full all summer.  They seem to do well as long as they can find shade.  I just wish I had a few trees already grown in the pasture, but I am working on it.

It's so true. I get very grumpy when I overheat, and my chickens do too

They go through far more water in the summer in my experience!

 

[blondiebee181]

i have a rubber sorta bucket thing that farm animals eat/drink out of. Easier to kick the ice out of. i appreciate you telling me about cooking them out! I was worried bout that. I was thinkn a small wattage bulb but couldnt figure out how to keep it close to the water. I still dont know what to do. im not paying the ridiculous prices these stores have for feeders and waterers. Say im gone 24/7 and it gets below freezing? Perhaps have a neighbor help out? pls throw me some cheap suggestions? I looked at all the pics for waterers here but i dont wanna build anything like that. Electric and water scare me. Now I really have myself confused!! LOL pls help.. ????

Rubber tubs are a great idea that's what I'm using...I'm not using any heat or light though. As long as your coop is draft free, yet still well-ventilated you probably won't need any either.

 

[Our Roost]

Rubber buckets. Well, they are more flexible than the hard plastic ones you might purchase at the local feed store. I have a 55 gallon plastic water barrel that a lot of us have adapted to use to water our chickens. If you only have a few chicks it isnt worth mentioning. My only suggestion would be to keep the water inside the coop and off the ground. That should help keep it from freezing.

 

[nuchickontheblock]

we live in Maine and don't heat or insulate our coop. the girls are molting big time now and I hope they get a nice heavy down parka going before the nights get too cold. So far only down to the 40's a couple of nights.