my coop burned down, need heating ideas

[mmtillman]

OH Sorry, I just re-read your post, and saw that you did lose chickens....Im so sorry for your lose. Hope your able to rebuild soon and enjoy a new flock of birds again .

 

[agirly4chicks]

I am so sorry to hear about your loss. I worry about the 100 watt light bulb in my brooder and also the heat lamp in my dog house that has been converted to my mini pot bellied pigs house. Sometime I wake up in the middle of the night just to make sure I see the red glow and not flames. I am sure you would do the same from now on.

I have no other suggestions than what everyone else has stated. i would like to say maybe if you do plan on putting a lamp or small heater of some sort devote a whole corner to it and make a jail cell for it to be housed in. So that the only thing that can get it is dust.

I wish you the best of luck and please keep us posted as to your new plans. I would love to help. Let me know your hatchery and I will help you start your new flock.

Angie

 

[Hoot]

We always used a 100 watt light bulbs in our coop and our pump house. Our coop and pump house were both insulated and the bulbs would keep it above freezing. Plus the coop stayed open to the run all the time.

Sorry for the loss.

 

[rnoyster]

When you rebuild your coop, I suggest using 2" styrofoam insulation instead of fiberglass insulation in your walls and under your floor as well. It is carried here by Lowes and Home Depot, but most building centers probably carry it. The fiberglass insulation has an R rating of 15-19 whereas the 2" foam board has an R rating of about 50-60. It cuts with a fine tooth saw very easily and will tack into your wall cavities in seconds. I have a friend who used it to insulate his pump house and he used his wife's electric carving knife! Just a suggestion.

 

[CityChook]

Quote:
First of all, I want to say that I am sooo soooo sorry to hear about your loss. I would be absolutely beside myself. Kudos to you for looking to the BYC for advice the second time around. Not everyone deals with cold the way we do here in the frozen tundra, but I understand your weather. I struggle with it too. It sounds like you had a nice coop, well insulated, and a good home for your chickens. Like you, my small flock can't come close to heating a coop with their body heat in this climate. Auxiliary heat is mandatory. Don't beat yourself up. Accidents happen. Learn from this devastating event and make sure it won't happen again. Hugs.

This is what I did:

For me, the concept of keeping the coop above freezing was unrealistic. If I could keep it above 5F, then I was happy. I found that because my coop is draft free, even 0F felt okay inside, even with the pop door open.

First, we made a large window on the south side of the coop to allow as much natural light/heat as possible.

Second: We hardwired the coop for electricity, understanding full well that we were going to need heat and a way to keep the water thawed. I didn't want electrical cords running from the house for 7 months of the year. We insulated/interior paneled the walls, so the wires end up hidden, making for a clean, tidy environment. I installed one electrical outlet over the food area and plugged in a heated water dish ($25).

Third: Inside the coop, I hardwired an exterior grade, metal/ceramic light socket over the roost and hooked it up to a switch. I have a 250 watt ceramic heat emitter (avail. at pet stores in the reptile section or Ebay for about 50% retail). I have only one socket, which was a mistake. After my first winter, I wish that I had two, both on switches. When the weather really got cold, we needed two heat sources to keep the coop above 0F. If I had two sockets then I could simply flip a switch when I needed the extra heat and turn it off when it wasn't necessary. As it was, I ended up with an extension cord after all ...grrrr.... But I digress. The ceramic bulb provides radiant heat, meaning it heats surfaces, not air. By placing it over the roost, it would heat up the chookies bodies while not wasting energy trying to heat subzero air. Even still, it kept the coop around 11 degrees warmer inside than outside. And because the light socket was placed high on the wall, out of chicken reach, and then hardwired, I was able to sleep at night without worrying quite so much about fire or even about the chickens burning themselves.

Fourth: I purchased, again on Ebay, a lithium thermostat that transmits to a base on my kitchen counter. I mounted it close to the roost and can check it 24/7 from the comfort of my home.

Fifth: I can't see my coop from the house, so I have an old baby monitor inside the coop just in case...

I hope this helps you. Again, so sorry to hear about your loss. Best of luck building your new coop and re-establishing your flock.

 

[CornerViewFarm]

This has happen to me to, being a firefighter i was surprized it happen to me. Now when i hang heat lamps in the winter i either tie the cord around a rafter or something so i know that it will not fall down. or i will run a wire trough the vent holes on top of the heat lamp.

 

[vermontgal]

So sorry to hear about your chickens (and coop).

I also use a 100w heat emitter. To minimize my exposure, I only use it on very cold nights -20F and lower. Here, that is maybe 10-15 nights per winter. My goal is to keep the coop at +10F, but occasionally it has been a bit colder.

Good idea to tie up the heat lamp (emitter). I also dust mine off before I use it, but that doesn't help if it falls.

I also have an insulated coop. Keep in mind that insulated ceiling with 2x6" is only 5.5" of insulation. If you are using fiberglass batts, that is only around R17. In cold climates such as North Dakota (or Vermont), it is recommended to insulate your home attic to R60 (about 18-20" of insulation). So, you could add a LOT more insulation than you had, and thereby decrease the need to heat the coop so much. More info about insulation recommendations via http://www.energystar.gov

Rnoyster, I hate to tell you but stryofoam insulation does not have that much R value. Styrofoam is extruded polystyrene, and is R value approx 5 per inch. a 2" sheet is only R10 (not R50!) The best R value for foam board insulation is foil-covered polyisocyanurate, and that is R value approx 7.5 per inch, so a 2" sheet is R15.

For next winter, I am planning to insulate my coop better, and maybe I will be able to get away without a heater at all. My current ceiling insulation is only R15 (3" styrofoam sheet that I had lying around).

I currently have a very old quilt hanging in the coop to separate the roost area from the rest of the coop. I would like to build a better quality "hover" to capture the heat from the chickens on the roost. This is another helpful idea to minimize heating. This keeps the chickens from needing to heat up the WHOLE coop; their body heat is concentrated at night in the roost area.

Finally, if you have the space and interest, add more chickens. Each chicken is like an 18 watt heater. I think that's the best kind of heat.

 

[theabee]

This might be a silly idea, but if you live where it doesn't get to cold all the time, it might work at night. If you filled a waterer in the coop with extremely hot water and maybe even put gallon jugs filled with boiling water around the coop, would this produce enough heat (just for the night) to warm it on only the coldest nights? I guess you wouldn't want the water to be too hot in the waterer in case the chickies wanted a drink...

(thinking of chicken drinking boiling water). But gallon jugs could be filled with boiling water and placed after the chickies had gone to roost so they didn't bump into the hot jugs. It's like those water bottle heaters for bed to keep your feet warm!

I might try this when I get chickens... eventually... unless you think it could be dangerous in some way I haven't thought of.

What do you think? Would it work for a small coop for a few hours at night?

 

[Hokum Coco]

I lost my chicken coop and 12 laying hens on 2/27/09 to a coop fire.
I live in northern North Dakota, and it regularly gets 20 below zero here in winter nights and occassionally colder.

Chickens are not polar bears we have to keep in mind. Laying, vocal, and active birds in my opinion is a sign everything is right in their world. That being said when a chicken has 3 trips around the sun it is there as a pet not for egg production. If your birds or animals are showing signs of stress you have to do what is right in your situation. The one size fits all is a recipe for disaster.

Take inventory on your animals daily and make daily decisions is what I do summer and winter. A heat lamp and TLC can happen not only in winter and not always due to cold.

In Canada I am subject to -40º cold snaps. I do NOT heat or give extra light in my coop. Murphy's law says my birds will find out what -40 is all about when my hydro goes out. Regardless what you decide feed Extra Corn over the winter you will not be sorry.

Or something like this may help also; You could even knit a hoodie for those extra cold days..



The Chantecler are overall the best dual purpose bird you can acquire and are polar bears when it comes to cold (they maybe difficult to acquire in your location)..

Characteristics



A White Chantecler hen, taken at the Abbey in 1926
The Chantecler is a large chicken that lays respectably well and is a good meat producer. Roosters weigh around 9 pounds (3.9 kilos), and hens are 6.5-7.5 pounds (3-3.4 kilos).The breed possess yellow skin and beaks, and lay brown eggs. With plumage that lies tight against the body but has a good deal of fluff, and an exceptionally small cushion comb and wattles, the Chantecler is one of the most cold hardy chickens. They are gentle birds amenable to taming, but can be temperamental in confinement.[2

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