How much heat in the coop??

[wundernurse]

My youngest chicks are 6 weeks and I wanted to move my 7 chicks to their coop. The rest are 7 and 9 weeks. The night time lows are mid 40's. Should I use a 125 or 250 watt heat bulb in their draft free coop?? Thanks for any advice and info

 

[Daycare Mom]

I would give them a light in the coop and then they have it if they need it.

 

[luvarabhorses]

I am no expert but I'll tell you what I did. I put three 75 watt bulbs in different areas but within about 8 inches of each other. The chicks seem to be pretty happy.

 

[Kim_NC]

I use a 250 watt heat lamp. They have plenty of room to get away from it if they're too warm.

 

[luvarabhorses]

I think that's what most people do.

 

[Mrs MIA]

I've gotten away from using the 250w bulbs... too much electricity. I use the dome-lamps with a 60 watt bulb, and they do just fine. You might have to lower it a little more than a 250, but it works. As they get a little older, you can raise it up to decrease the heat, or switch to a 40w bulb. After our $585 electric bill in January, all unneccessary lights went away.

 

[vermontgal]

Mrs. AK-Bird-Brain - you preached us all last fall that you did not heat your coops in Alaska - and convinced me, in Vermont, that I should not heat mine. Then you report that you had a $585 electric bill in January due to ... what exactly?

That's a lot of juice!

PS. I didn't listen to you,

I got a 100w heat emitter that I use only on the very coldest nights ~ maybe 10-15 nights a year.
PPS. My electric bill went up from ~$30 to ~$40 due to the heated pet bowl (60w), my new pellet stove, and the occasional heat emitter.

 

[luvarabhorses]

What is the age of the birds we are talking about here? I know the initial post was 6-7 weeks, I have week old chicks that graduated from a cardboard box in the bathroom with one 60 watt bulb to an outside brooder with three 60 or 75 watt bulbs, but I live in Arkansas and it gets down in the low 40's at night. Does that sound about right?