Ideas needed on how to heat a coop

[pattgal]

My 2 coops are in my baby barn/shed
the shed has electrical but the floor is not finished. it has flooring but no foundation.
we don't have much money to spend. some boards will need replacing...
How would I heat the shed without using a wood stove?? there is not much room in there because we also use it as storage for the lawn mower. not to mention the extra space that will be needed to store wood shavings over the winter (my supplier does not make them in the winter)
the only reason I'm really thinking about this is because I might want to have an outdoor cat, to mouse for me
does this make any sense at all???

 

[krcote]

Heating a whole barn for a cat may be overkill. Your sig line says it all

My friend who has a barn cat constructed a dog house like size box that he warms with some sort of heat mat so the cat can sleep in there and be warm. Otherwise, your cat would be fine milling about in the cold and warming up when sleeping.

 

[Bi0s]

yeah i got 4 outside barn cats they do fine in the winter with no heat they have a litte house i made them they sleep in they will be just fine

 

[pattgal]

Quote:
yeah I know but Iv'e seen cats with no ears from the cold and frozen off tails. that's just not right
I don't like the idea of treating animals like humans, but I wouldn't want it to suffer either

 

[Bi0s]

my cats never suffered and we had a real bad winter lots of snow and they did great

 

[patandchickens]

You may well not need heat if you choose your breeds intelligently and manage the coop well. (How cold are you?) DO NOT shut the coop up tight like all-too-many people here in Canada do, as that just gives you humidity -> frostbite (which is why a bunch of Canadians think you *have* to heat the coop, b/c with it shut up so tight and humid you get frostbite at pretty mild temperatures)

If you *should* need added heat occasionaly, don't think in terms of heating the COOP, think in terms of heating the CHICKENS

-- the usual method (and a good one, if you can rig it so it is reasonably fire-safe) is to hang a lamp over the roost or in a corner, so that if the chickens are feeling cold they can huddle under the lamp. Use as low-wattage bulb(s) as possible -- two or three 100w bulbs give as much heat as one 250w heatlamp bulb with MUCH less risk of fire.

More on the subject at my 'cold coop' page, link in .sig below.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[baldessariclan]

Cats have fur, and they grow more of it when it gets cold. Our current cat sleeps outside a lot of the time in the winter -- if crappy weather, he holes up in the loft of our open garage/shed. My grandparents used to have "barn cats" on farm up in Iowa that spent their whole lives outside -- it would sometimes get to -20F or worse in the winter, and I never saw one of them w/ frozen ears or tails.

I think that as long as they have food, water, and some type of shelter available, they'll be just fine outside in the winter. Come to think of it, I don't know where the barn cats used to get their water in the winter -- maybe eating snow? None of the raccoons, bobcats, and etc. hanging around had water dishes set out for them either, and they seemed to be doing just fine, too.

 

[pattgal]

Quote:
the -20's are ok. what about -40?

 

[AidynElyMama]

We live in MT and our cat weathers fine in the winter, even with the really cold snaps we have here occasionally. As long as they have some kind of shelter to weather down in and plenty of food and water I wouldn't worry too much, but f you're worried, I think the quickest and cheapest way would be to take the previous suggestion of a lamp or two. It should put out plenty of warmth without the expense of heating an entire barn up.

 

[pattgal]

Quote:
i think you might have already helped me out in a previous thread during the winter
The chickens got through the winter just fine with no heat One of my hens even hatched a few chicks and none of them got cold. we still need work on the ventilation though
yeah, the chickens are in a nice enclosed 6x10 all 6 wall insulated (thus the humidity problems) we didn't know about humidity then
but the cat wouldn't have access to the coop. he would just be in the shed with the lawn mower and other stuff (the water freezes in there though)

Generally it doesn't get terribly cold here the norm would be between -20 and -30 C. but we do get cold snaps (-40C) through the winter
One year we had a cold snap where ppl were advised not to go out at all -50C (that was exceptional of course)
I'm probably just freaking out. he could always stay up in the rafters ....