Keeping the coop warm in the winter, HOW?

[mquadem]

We've added plastic around playpen area for their day play when they aren't free ranging. We're not sure if we should add extra heat to the coop it self. I only have 6 chickens and the coop is rather large.

ANY ADVISE WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED

 

[Indoroowet]

The more I read, the more I am told NOT to heat a chicken coop, but ...
Only when the amount of chickens and the size of the coop is appropriate.
Apparently, each chicken gives off a certain amount of heat,
AND they are naturally capable of keeping themselves warm.

Too small and they are crowded,
too big and not enough heat generated by the chickens.

The perches need to be above the top of the door,
so the chickens roost inside the warm area of the coop at night.
The perches also need to be flat and wide rather then round.
Their feet will then sit flat on top of the perch and they will hunker down,
to keep their feet warm.

All of the above, gleaned *from the net*, and those that *made sense*.

I have a triangular shaped coop (easiest to make) so the heat concentrates on the top end.
About 6 inches down from the top end, there is a remote sensor to my
weather station which tells me the temp and the humidity of the coop.
Surprisingly, it has always been warmer in there, than the ambient temperature !!
The humidity is always, for some reason, really low, so it is dry in there.
I do have, in the top of the coop six *2 inch diameter* vent holes,
three on each opposite side of the coop.
There IS an infra red heat lamp in the coop, which is plugged into a *ThermoCube*.
This cube turns on at 35F and shuts of at 45F.
http://www.amazon.com/Farm-Innovato...TF8&qid=1412872030&sr=8-1&keywords=thermocube
Never has gone *on* yet ... (This is my first *year* with chickens)
We will see if this continues when the cold weather sets in.

 

[youngstevie]

I have chickens and have had them 6 years now. I do not cover mine or use heat lamps in winter as they need ventilation and there feathers will keep them warm as they roost together. Plenty of hay should be enough.
Take care in covering too as red mites like the heat....hence why there can be outbreaks in summer months

Your much better to leave the coop as it was when it came to you, if your overly worried about winter months a small amount of warm porridge oats mixed with layer pellets and warm water will give them a warm start to the day
Or you can give a small amount of chicken mash with warm water.

Happy Chicken keeping. Don't forget to worm every 3 months or so xxxx

 

[Judy]

The first question is, where are you?

If chickens become accustomed to a heated coop and the power goes out, or the heater fails, they are more subject to problems from the cold because they are not acclimated to the cold. That is just one reason not to heat a coop.

Here is an excellent article on winter coop tmeps, written by a Canadian:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/winter-coop-temperatures

There are many threads on the forum on this subject, too.

 

[AlaskaBantam]

Quote: This advice is really good.
We live near Anchorage in Alaska which gets cold but not as cold as the Interior of Alaska or other parts of the States I expect.
What we have found is you must avoid drafts and avoid damp as both kill.
A well ventilated but draft free pen is fine.
A thick layer of dry straw or dry leaves (We use leaves as they are free) on the run floor gives something to scratch in or hunker down in when it is cold.
We don't run any heaters or lights in Winter . It would cost too much and if the power went out and they were used to them I don't know how that would turn out.
We use rubber bowls and change the water daily ..but don't use heaters...if we couldn't tend them daily we would have to.
We don't use electric light as asking the hens for extra production in our Winter without providing a heated pen seems too demanding.
If it is extra cold I'll add a squirt of cheap vegetable oil to their food for extra energy.
If a bird looks off color a night indoors in a cardboard box will often be a life saver.
Larger breeds of hen have worked well and lived a long time for us but surprisingly the longest and most productive birds have been Golden Pheasants ..who live long, lay well and cope well with the cold and also a small Dutch Bantam our oldest bird who I confess now Winter's indoors in the Laundry (She was such a pet I thought it was her last Winter and though we owed her some final days out of the cold ...that was 3 winters ago..she now happily Summers outside and then moves into Winter Quarters in the Laundry...) daft I know.
Excuse the length of this post from a newcomer..I'm now off to read posts as there seems to be lots of interesting reading here.

 

[HeIsKing]

I am so glad i saw this, I am making a small coop to put my chicks in this winter and had not even thought of putting in ventilation!!!

 

[RezChamp]

Lotsa stories. Some really good pointers too. Gona take some jk into consideration.
My story now. Pics would've made it so much easier but I'm still kinda computer illiterate.
Heck I only stared texting last year. LOL
My new coop(4yrs)is 6X12, pitch roof from 6&1/2ft- 5ft, dbl pane sealed window(5ftLx2ftW), dbl pane slider window(2ftWx3ftH) on a 36"X70" insulated steel door, metal roofing with tarpaper underlay, it is 2x4 walls, 2X6 roof & floor. Built like a house with vapour barrier and insulation. Except the floor. The interior is pine plywood and sealed with joint compound. The walls are painted with white Int/Ext acrylic.
There is a 4" hole in the wall at the top through which I pass a metal dryer vent hose. The hose is attached to the wall and then down to about 2ft from the floor. I hung a 500-700 watt interior car heater off the eave and attached the dryer hose to it. There is a smallish vent mane 3X6" at the other end of the coop. All the stale air is pushed out.
I also made a 2ftHx3ftWx3ftL plywood box with one end open. I cut a 8" hole on the remaining 3X3ft(top)piece and a 3/8" hole in one of the sides for a cord to fit through. I put a 40or 60 watt bulb in the box a with the open end on the floor so the box is a heat radiated and the hole is where I put my water.
I also use a T50 to staple tarps to the bottom of the coop. I put a 5 gal pail or a 10 gal drum laying on it's side under the coop about the middle. I secure a light fixture in the pail and put 40 up to 100 watt bulb in there.i make sure I attach the cord to the joists to discourage anything from chewing. Then I drape the tarps down to about a foot extra laying on the ground to where I lay lumber, rocks, firewood, etc. when the snow comes I pt snow on there.
Where I live the norm AM temp is about -30 to -40.
The " heater" under the coop is the main source since it keeps the floor warm. I use the "box heater" only when the water starts to freeze. The "car heater" is used on the coldest nights and days only.
2 years ago I moved my fence because of water, actually the professional septic field/leech field workers hired to repair made a horrible excuse for a field and left a hideous mess of my yard and lawn. Next time I'll save my money and but a shovel. I
s it just me or does it seem that people that put a piece of paper on their wall are just stuck in themselves and now that they know what they know everyone else is wrong or "uneducated".
AnywayLOL, back to my story. We had a cpl of warmish winters so my old coop was just used. But last year was real chilly. We had -50 to -55 for a whole week and the rest of the winter was -40 or so. I only lost 7 birds to the cold but the roosters got a frosty "haircut". The rest of my flock was destroyed by 4 roving dogs that just stepped over the 6" of 6' fence sticking out of a 5&1/2' snow drift.
So this winter the new coop is going to be utilized again, in the new fenced area, closer to the house, where I can shoot my crossbow from.

 

[JackE]

Here's a pic of my coop. It has no added heat. Heatlamps are a fire hazard, but they are real good at running up your electric bill. No insulation. None needed, as the chickens already come with perfect insulation of their own. Notice, the front is wide open, at chicken level. And look at where the birds are, right up front, not hiding in a heap, back in the coop. We can get winter temps into the low single digits, and the chickens have no problems at all. Even with the open front, the temp inside is usually 10 higher than the outside, and this coop is not even filled to capacity. It's kinda obvious in the winter, when you don't have enough ventilation. You will see frost forming inside, and the coop will stink of ammonia. If that's the case, you better open up/increase ventilation fast. Or you may end up with frostbit birds, and possible respiratory problems.

 

[Coldjensens]

Lotsa stories. Some really good pointers too. Gona take some jk into consideration.
My story now. Pics would've made it so much easier but I'm still kinda computer illiterate.
Heck I only stared texting last year. LOL
My new coop(4yrs)is 6X12, pitch roof from 6&1/2ft- 5ft, dbl pane sealed window(5ftLx2ftW), dbl pane slider window(2ftWx3ftH) on a 36"X70" insulated steel door, metal roofing with tarpaper underlay, it is 2x4 walls, 2X6 roof & floor. Built like a house with vapour barrier and insulation. Except the floor. The interior is pine plywood and sealed with joint compound. The walls are painted with white Int/Ext acrylic.
There is a 4" hole in the wall at the top through which I pass a metal dryer vent hose. The hose is attached to the wall and then down to about 2ft from the floor. I hung a 500-700 watt interior car heater off the eave and attached the dryer hose to it. There is a smallish vent mane 3X6" at the other end of the coop. All the stale air is pushed out.
I also made a 2ftHx3ftWx3ftL plywood box with one end open. I cut a 8" hole on the remaining 3X3ft(top)piece and a 3/8" hole in one of the sides for a cord to fit through. I put a 40or 60 watt bulb in the box a with the open end on the floor so the box is a heat radiated and the hole is where I put my water.
I also use a T50 to staple tarps to the bottom of the coop. I put a 5 gal pail or a 10 gal drum laying on it's side under the coop about the middle. I secure a light fixture in the pail and put 40 up to 100 watt bulb in there.i make sure I attach the cord to the joists to discourage anything from chewing. Then I drape the tarps down to about a foot extra laying on the ground to where I lay lumber, rocks, firewood, etc. when the snow comes I pt snow on there.
Where I live the norm AM temp is about -30 to -40.
The " heater" under the coop is the main source since it keeps the floor warm. I use the "box heater" only when the water starts to freeze. The "car heater" is used on the coldest nights and days only.
2 years ago I moved my fence because of water, actually the professional septic field/leech field workers hired to repair made a horrible excuse for a field and left a hideous mess of my yard and lawn. Next time I'll save my money and but a shovel. I
s it just me or does it seem that people that put a piece of paper on their wall are just stuck in themselves and now that they know what they know everyone else is wrong or "uneducated".
AnywayLOL, back to my story. We had a cpl of warmish winters so my old coop was just used. But last year was real chilly. We had -50 to -55 for a whole week and the rest of the winter was -40 or so. I only lost 7 birds to the cold but the roosters got a frosty "haircut". The rest of my flock was destroyed by 4 roving dogs that just stepped over the 6" of 6' fence sticking out of a 5&1/2' snow drift.
So this winter the new coop is going to be utilized again, in the new fenced area, closer to the house, where I can shoot my crossbow from.

These are really good ideas. I think I will do both those things. I will use a 400 watt hair dryer that has a small hose already since we have several of them around and I do not know where to get a "car heater" and I will connect the hair dryer to a thermostatic switch so it comes on when the temp drops below 20. I can put the hair dryer in the carriage house so it does not get wet. On the lowest heat setting they do not use much more power than a light bulb, but it will push fresh air in which will be a plus. Maybe I can put the hair dryer in a 5 gallon paint bucket under the coop with a lid on the bucket. Then the air will not have to travel so far. I can just run it up through the bottom of the coop. The noise will also probably keep raccoons and foxes away.

Losing power is not really an issue. We lose power frequently, so we have a NG generator that comes on immediately if the power goes out.

I hope you are talking about temperatures in Centigrade. We had -50 windchill once, I cannot image -50f ambient temperature. Hard to believe anything could live in that.

We had a chicken loose some toes to frostbite one year, so I am not too keen on leaving them with no heat. Some of her toes turned black and then she pecked them off. That had to have been from daytime cold becasue we had the coop properly heated with a light designed for that purpose by then.

A lot of people talk about moisture. There is no moisture in the air in our winters. It gets so dry it is hard to breathe, even inside the house. How can moisture be a problem in the winter?

We have been attacked by various animals and lost chickens on occasions, but never a chance to defend them with a crossbow. Other than two hawks and an eagle the first day we had chickens, we never saw their attackers.

For water we use a floating warmer we got at Tractor Supply Hardware. It was inexpensive and does not use a noticeable amount of electricity. (No big jump in our electric bill). One year we put it in a little kids wading pool because we had a duck too, but the water evaporates very quickly in winter and the warmer thing melted through the bottom of the pool. Then we put it in an old aluminum laundry tub. Now we use something smaller becasue we only have four chickens.

 

[Frizzlett]

Here's a pic of my coop. It has no added heat. Heatlamps are a fire hazard, but they are real good at running up your electric bill. No insulation. None needed, as the chickens already come with perfect insulation of their own. Notice, the front is wide open, at chicken level. And look at where the birds are, right up front, not hiding in a heap, back in the coop. We can get winter temps into the low single digits, and the chickens have no problems at all. Even with the open front, the temp inside is usually 10 higher than the outside, and this coop is not even filled to capacity. It's kinda obvious in the winter, when you don't have enough ventilation. You will see frost forming inside, and the coop will stink of ammonia. If that's the case, you better open up/increase ventilation fast. Or you may end up with frostbit birds, and possible respiratory problems.

That's an amazing coop! My chickens only have an old shed we made into a coop. I'd love to have something like that but I don't have the skill or resources to build one. Or money to even buy one lol. Very nice coop. Love it.