moving chicks outdoors-I am so done

[klf73]

I have over 100 chicks, 14 weeks down to just over 1 weekers, 2 coops, 3 brooders in my basement. I am so done with all the dust. I switched to crumbles and that helped a little. I asked dh to build a coop to put next to the house so I can put a light in it cuz I have almost 4 dozen eggs in the bator (LAST hatch this year)and want to get all the brooders empty before my current hatch pops in 2.5 weeks. He is going to make it 4Hx4Dx8L. Do I need to insulate it if there is a 200watt heat lamp in there? I don't want to slow bake my chicks but want to make sure it will do ok all winter. Thoughts?

Krista

 

[pbjmaker]

Didn't I see somewhere that you live in town? I prefer to grill my chicken rather than slow bake them...

Really I have no idea what a 200 watt bulb would do - I'm just impressed with the number of chicks you have maintained this summer. Do you still have that frizzle cochin with the red coming in?

 

[debilorrah]

I have one word for that: WOW

 

[klf73]

Yes, she is very pretty, I will wait until she is more feathered in and get a new pic. I just got too good at this incubating thing. I got so discouraged after my first 2 batches of shipped eggs that I had to perfect this incubating thing

and then of course there are so many breeds.........

Krista

 

[ravenfeathers]

Quote:
i haven't overwintered yet in my coop, but i've got my month and a half old chicks out there with a 250w bulb (my dimensions are slightly larger, about 10x12). if the door is open, the heat lamp doesn't seem to do anything. if the door is closed and the insulation is fully engaged (haha), it gets hotter than the fires of hades in there in short order (no chicks have been fricaseed, though). my project for this weekend is to put a close-able vent on the door for winter.

 

[klf73]

The smaller coop I am talking about is just temporary until they are large enough to go with the "big kids". The large coop for all the LF will be 8X10 when finished, right now it's only 8X6 and the 7 that are in there look lost. There will be about 20 chickens in this coop. I then have the banty coop and am not sure how many there will be, there are soooo many roos

. I am thinking I am going to have to just try it out. I figure with vents in the roof it shouldn't get too hot.
Krista

 

[MamaDragon]

They have thermometers with alarms on them. I'd try getting one of those maybe. Have the display in the house, (splice some more wire into the external sensor probe if necessary to reach inside the coop) set max and min temp ranges, turn the alarm on, and see how it goes.

You might also want to try a set-up similar to the home-made bators, so that you can set the temp you want, and hook your heat lamp up to it.

I'd still partially insulate it, on the windward side at least, and seal the cracks to keep it as draft-free as possible. You do want some air flow, just not enough to move a candle flame.

Just remember that heat rises, and 200 watts can overheat a wooden roof REAL Quick if it's too close!

Kathy