How to prevent frostbite?

[Dandelioness]

My friend also just lost her entire flock in one night - to a fire caused by a heat lamp.

There are plenty of people in frigid MN & WI and even Alaska that don't use heat lamps. But there are other measures that they take to ensure the health of their flock & even support winter laying.

Talk with local friends and do your own research. I see how people can go either way on this.

 

[JackE]

It would be interesting to see what kind of coop, and how many chickens were in it. For all of them to be frozen to death on the roosts. I read on this forum a couple of years ago, where somebody's coop was frozen up inside so bad, they could not get the door open. Seems, they had left their birds in the care of a neighbor, and the neighbor thought they were doing the chickens a favor by shutting all the ventilation off. They thought it was too cold.
I would bet something along the same lines happened to your friend's chickens. Too many birds, in too small a space, too little (If any) ventilation, combined with some very cold temps, adding up to a death chamber. There is plenty of documentation out there about chickens living with no problems in below zero temps. I read about how people up in Canada, were keeping chickens in open-air coops in -40 temps. These birds have average body temps of 106 degrees. That, combined with one of nature's best insulation, their feathers, it's going to take some kind of extreme freeze to turn them into a popsicle.

 

[BayBay Peepers]

I don't know the dimensions of the coop, but it was something like 8-10 hens. She said they all had their heads tucked under their wings like normal and literally froze in place. She lost her peacock the same night (he was not in the coop) in the barn.

Like I said I don't really disagree with either side. If you have the right set up I can see not using a heat lamp, but if someone feels the need for it I wouldn't tell them not to.

 

[ChickenCrazay]

we just keep our hens in our warm coop if it is in the single digits

 

[ChickenCrazay]

we just keep our hens in our warm coop if it is in the single digits

oops i only read the first page

 

[CrazyTalk]

Like I said I don't really disagree with either side. If you have the right set up I can see not using a heat lamp, but if someone feels the need for it I wouldn't tell them not to.

The problem is that when people put in heat lamps, they usually start closing down ventilation (to keep from wasting heat/electricity), and then you end up with moisture problems.

 

[BayBay Peepers]

Makes sense. I don't change anything. The vents stay open and I have it on a bottom roost facing my chicken door (stays open always) and no one ever tries to huddle in front. They all go to their roosts to cuddle up.

 

[MeepBeep]

My friend also just lost her entire flock in one night - to a fire caused by a heat lamp. 

argumentum ad passiones

It's equivalent to saying that about 400,000 people's house burn down each year with the leading cause being indoor cooking and indoor heating, and thus everyone should not heat their house nor cook in their house as it's unsafe and will cause your house to burn down...

The more logical and sensible approach is to consider the risk and take preventative measures to prevent the risk...

Heat lamps are a very dangerous way to heat, there are MUCH better and MUCH safer options out there, like low temp radiant panels... Low quality, cheap, light gauge and chained together extension cords draped across your yard are a risk, wire your coop properly or at minimum use a single high quality heavy gauge all weather single extension cord... Measures like this will significantly lower the risk of fire...

I'm willing to bet that a VAST majority of those that have had coop fires were due to maintenance negligence, poor choice of heating source, improper or unsafe installation of heating source, electrical wiring that was not up to the NEC or electrical that was simply done in an unsafe manner for inside a coop, those are all preventable risk that should not be grouped into a 'heating is unsafe' conclusion...

 

[BayBay Peepers]

We hooked up normal electricity to the coop so that we can plug the thermostat in and then the light into there.

I do understand the risk, but I also keep up on things. When the coop gets cleaned the light gets cleaned. The light is attached to the roost so it can't fall. Every night I check to see that everything is intact. I know these are not a 100% guarantee, but for the time being they are serving their purpose and until I find another way it will stay the way it is.

 

[MeepBeep]

until I find another way it will stay the way it is.

Mount a low temp radiant heater like a 'big blanket' on the wall behind their roost, space it off the wall by about 1" to allow air flow front and back instead of just heating the outside wall itself...

http://www.osbornelivestockequipment.com/stanfield-heat-pads

Since they only get to about plus 35° above ambient air temp they post essentially no fire risk if properly wired... It won't 'heat' the coop to some high temp, but it will take the bite out of the air...