i finally had to give in and get a heat lamp for the chickens!!!

[boykin2010]

it made me really aggravated but i finally got a heat lamp for my chickens. it has been really cold here lately and 2 night ago was when i decided that anything under 30 degrees they needed a heat lamp. i got one for them last night because it was 25 degrees outside!!! that is so abnormal for georgia it is very unusual for anything to freeze. the reason i didnt want to get one until it was absolutely necessary is because i have read so many postings on here about dead chickens and burnt coops because the heat lamp will catch the coop on fire. Last night i actually dreamed the coop was on fire and i woke up and looked out the window and everything was ok. i really need reasurance everything will be ok. anyway else using heat lamps? does it work for you

 

[gritsar]

It's been down to the 20s here so far this winter and I refuse to give them heat. It's not worth the risk, not only for fire but in case the power goes out (as it often does here in rural Arkansas). I don't want them to get used to being warm and toasty and then lose power.
Both sets of my birds are doing fine - the big 'uns and the juveniles, including the two silkies.

 

[Orchid]

It's been below zero here several nights and my chickens have no supplemental heat. They're doing fine.

I think they'd rather be a little chilly than dead from a heat lamp fire, but maybe I'm anthropomorphizing.

 

[silkiechicken]

25 isn't so bad. My standards and banties slept outside in their run when it was 15.

 

[chickendude]

25 is a walk in the park for my girls. I don't think the risk of fire is worth it. Anyway your chickens can handle much colder than that.

 

[Redcatcher]

Chickens can easily survive -26*F temperatures IF they are acclimated. If I lived in an area where they were used to daytime temperatures of 50-60* and it got to be 25*. I would get a heat lamp too.

 

[EweSheep]

No need for heat lamps, they will do well!

 

[boykin2010]

well i already bought a heat lamp now so i should go ahead and use it. how bad are the chances of something happening. I mean is it 1 in 10 or 1 in 100 1 in 100???? does anybody know? i thought that chickens combs get frost bit when it gets below freezing. what is the temperature where you would get them a heat lamp.

 

[Katy]

Quote:
Heat lamps are a source of fires every year.....I don't know the odds. I guess it depends on how careful you are with it.

I don't heat any of my coops and it gets much colder here than you are right now.

 

[Judy]

It was colder than that here. I not only don't have heat, half of one wall is open air, plus all the eaves, and I have 5 chicks just over a week old. The chicks run around much of the day, run under mama for a few minutes then right back out. I went out at 5 AM today to check. The hens were spread over all the roosts (which would hold about 50 birds) and only a few were even cuddled up to another one. Mama was blissfully asleep in her hay filled nest.

I can't believe there is anywhere in Georgia that needs a heat lamp, ever, not with a well ventilated coop that blocks the wind.