I am a professional product developer and I would like your input for a new product idea.

[donrae]

I think the reason you've mostly heard from folks that don't heat their coops is because most folks just don't heat their coops. The idea that chickens need supplemental heat at 40degrees is frankly ridiculous. Chickens are livestock animals, even though lots of folks want to make them pets, and as livestock are designed to tolerate even freezing cold temps during the winter. Instead of trying to market an unnecessary product, I'd focus more on the incubator and brooder ideas. Those are the birds that need heat and/or light.

 

[chickisoup]

I think the reason you've mostly heard from folks that don't heat their coops is because most folks just don't heat their coops. The idea that chickens need supplemental heat at 40degrees is frankly ridiculous. Chickens are livestock animals, even though lots of folks want to make them pets, and as livestock are designed to tolerate even freezing cold temps during the winter. Instead of trying to market an unnecessary product, I'd focus more on the incubator and brooder ideas. Those are the birds that need heat and/or light.

X2. The only reason I have the described heater in my coop as stated before is for the extreme situations such as what we are to hit for the first time this season next week when the night time low could hit the single digits. Even then it will only be set to kick in for an hour or so near dawn and only because I don't have enough birds in my coop this year for body heat and the temp swing is going to be a bit wild. Almost none of us northern folks heat on a regular basis and th Canadians think we're crazy for doing it at all. Heating above 20o if you have a good draft free coop is just a waste of money and unhealthy for your birds.

 

[henwaytech]

I think you are all right. My coop is designed so my chickens can safely roost inside or outside the coop in a completely fenced in porch. Even when it's "cold" outside (30deg F or so), and the lamp is on, they always seem to sit/play/sleep outside. I have yet to witness one basking under the heat lamp for pleasure.

If I were to make a couple samples of a smoke-detecting emergency shutoff devices for heat lamps, would anyone want one to try? Would these same people also like to help me list specifications for it (such as features, shape, functionality, etc)? I don't have much experience with raising baby chicks in cold, outdoor temperatures.

Thank you all for your input!

Roy

 

[earlybird10842]

Interesting idea--our winters are very cold and wet, and our birds need heat. We have some kind of a setup which involves electrical thingies which I don't understand, but it works like this: when the temp goes below 32 F in the coop, a heated waterer base, and a heat lamp within an old wood stove (so light doesn't bother the birds) It keeps things pretty warm, even if our birds don't need heat the eggs don't freeze and the older birds are happier (some of our chickens are aging and can't really handle cold like they could)

So I think this would be a good project for people who live in an area with harsh winters.

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

Quote: Many of the breeds here today came with the first Europeans 400 years ago
If the birds truly "need" heat, they'd all be extinct
They've been domesticated all over the world for nearly 3000 years, and electricity has only been around the last 80-100 years in most places

 

[Sandstorm495]

Well domesticated birds are not wild and can't cope in cold weather without heat. So what you are implying is that you would leave your birds in the cold (keeping in mind that some places can get extremely cold) and let them suffer while they could be tucked up in the coop with a heater?

 

[appps]

Many believe it is actually more dangerous to the birds to heat their coop.

A bird that has acclimatized to extreme cold will not be in danger of freezing to death during a power outage like a bird that is used to much warmer temperatures due to a heater. So its not about making them suffer, its about making them able to survive.

 

[Sandstorm495]

But what about birds that haven't acclimatized to cold?

 

[appps]

Well that is different of course, so if you buy young birds in winter you wouldn't want to throw them straight into subzero temperatures but it would still be safer to slowly reduce the temperature till they can go without it

If they slowly get cold as in with the change of the seasons their bodies will adapt as much as they can to combat the cold. Same as a domestic dog or cat gets a winter coat. If they are kept warm then their bodies don't adapt and so that's why a power outage can be so disastrous.

 

[drumstick diva]

Chickens can handle cold much better than heat. Chicken people in Alaska do not heat their coops.