Light on on cold nights

[djswett]

Soooooouuu....
Our 7 week old girls have spend their first 10 days outside in the coop. They seem very happy and free and are growing rapidly.
Even though summer solstice has happened and everybody is waiting patiently with bathing suit in one hand, and sunscreen in the other, the temps have been dropping to the mid 30's at night, up here in the Northwest, so i've been leaving a heat lamp on at night to keep my chicks nice and cozy.
So, here come my two questions:
1) Is it ok for them to have that big light over them, or does it prevent them from fully resting at night?
and,
2) What is a good and coop safe alternative heat source for when the fall and winter comes? They will be well feathered and big by the time the temps drop dramatically, but it can get REALLY cold up here in the high desert...


Thanks BYC'ers. I'd be lost without you....

 

[citrusdreams]

They should be fully feathered at 7 weeks. I wouldn't keep a heat lamp out, but that's just me. If they were shivering or were uncomfortable, I would though.

1) if you're worried about them resting with that big light on, try a red bulb. It's not so *in your face* as a bright white light.

2) This part of your post is probably best left to someone with chickens who lives in a climate similar to yours. But If it really gets that cold, you might have to keep some kind of heat lamp out there. I don't know how cold it gets by you or for how long. But having a well insulated (but ventilated) coop with several inches of bedding is probably your best bet. You really won't know until you see them. If they're obviously cold, you'll need a lamp. If they're puffed out on their roosts and calm, they don't need a heat lamp.

I realized that I didn't need a lamp when no one was under it

They all went to the roosts at night, so I unplugged the lamp and haven't used it since.

If you have roosters with big waddles and combs (like an orpington for example), you may have to keep an eye on their waddles and combs as they can get frostbite.

I left my coop door open the entire winter. It goes down into the 30s, 20s, some teens and some single digits here overnight. We had a few consecutive days that were at or below freezing during the day, and teens overnight and I still had them without a lamp and with the door open. To be honest I worry about them more in the summer than the winter.

 

[rooster0209]

You shouldn't need any heat in the coop during the winter...if your coop is draft free and your birds are protected from the elements. At 7wks they shouldn't need a heat source either.

Last winter was bitterly cold here in ND, -32F for a few weeks in a row. I kept the coop closed up (I had some upset guineas) and all the birds survived & with out any frost bite too. I used the deep litter method last year and I will continue to do so. It worked very well for keeping the birds off the cold concrete floor and gave them something to scratch in during the day.

There is alot of info on winter bird care here.

 

[tackyrama]

Hi, I have a wood stove partitioned off in one corner for the coldest of our Minnesota nights. It gets down to 20 and 30 below zero f quite regularly around here. I have a large well insulated barn/coop and probably would not need a heat source at all. I built the coop last year and started firing up the wood fire at 20 d f at first. I kept lowering the minimum temp till it got around -20. I did not notice any problems even at that tremp without the fire but our animals are treated very well soo....

It depends a lot too on what breed you have. We have dual purpose breeds for meat production and all our chickens are very cold hardy. chickens are tougher than you think. They have been domesticated for thousands of years and have stood up to almost any kind of climate. Check out my BYC page(s) to see my coop layout.

 

[djswett]

Awesome peeps,
Thanks for the quick answer. THis helps me relax quite a bit. I guess the Oregon high desert is not as cold as some of the places you people live in. It will get down to the 20's and sometimes even the teens and under, but that is rare. During winter it hovers just under freezing.
It's hard to know exactly how draft proof the coop is, unless i crawl inside myself (not a chance), but I believe it's pretty tight, and it sits in a pretty protected place in our backyard...
Thanks people,
Bryan.