New to raising poultry and this forum!

[Mrs Sandman2]

I currently have 14 Barred Rocks and 12 Buff Orpingtons. I also have 2 Heritage Breed Turkeys. My first time ever raising poultry and I'm a worry wart so I'm looking forward to any practical info I can learn. My husband made it a project to covert an add on on an old garage into a chicken coop. Thought he'd lose interest but we went to a local farm supply store last March to get dog food and came home with chicks! I've been "winging it" ever since! I live in Wisconsin and it got cold here rather quickly so I'm very worried about keeping the coop warm and dry enough. We're currently insulating the coop with 1" Styrofoam covered with milk parlor panels but they still find areas to peck the insulation! Our biggest concern is keeping them warm. Coop has a sand floor and 2 heat lamps. Ambient coop temp was 35*f this morning with outside temperature being around 7*. They seemed fine but we're nervous about keeping it above 32 in the coop so the water doesn't freeze once it gets really cold. We have the heat lamps running off extension cords as the coop itself has electricity, but no outlets. Is this warm enough? What else can/should we do? I'm not concerned about our turkeys. They don't seem bothered in the slightest. They have a space in the coop blocked off, (but not totally inaccessible by the chickens), since the chickens like to pull out their feathers! They're big birds and as long as we keep their food bowl full and the water unfrozen, they seem content.

 

[DobieLover]

Hello and welcome to BYC! Glad you joined.
If you're going to use styrofoam to insulate, the styrofoam needs to be covered with plywood or OSB. But the number one thing that you need to keep the birds warm is as much ventilation as you can possibly manage. You actually want to target 1 square foot of permanently open ventilation per bird in the coop.
Using heat lamps is also very dicey because they are huge fire hazard and if you suddenly lose power due to a large storm, the birds will be plunged into very cold temperatures very quickly to which they are not acclimated.

 

[muddy75]

 

[sourland]

Hello, and welcome to BYC.

 

[Squawkers]

Welcome to BYC!!!
As long as the coop is dry and draft free (but with good ventilation) I think your girls are fine! If you are just super concerned I have heard good things about the sweeter heater. I wouldn’t use a heat lamp in a coop like that because of the fire risk.

 

[OrpingtonManiac]

Welcome to BYC!

 

[Mrs Sandman2]

Welcome to BYC!!!
As long as the coop is dry and draft free (but with good ventilation) I think your girls are fine! If you are just super concerned I have heard good things about the sweeter heater. I wouldn’t use a heat lamp in a coop like that because of the fire risk.

That's another thing we're trying to figure out..... ventilation without drafts. I did buy a 6" solar vent fan to install but my husband is concerned about the cold air getting in through the vent, even though it has a backflow valve. Is this a good investment? Where do we install the fan? Near the floor of the coop or near the roof? Our coop is approx 12'x20'... Is one fan enough?

 

[Mrs Sandman2]

That's another thing we're trying to figure out..... ventilation without drafts. I did buy a 6" solar vent fan to install but my husband is concerned about the cold air getting in through the vent, even though it has a backflow valve. Is this a good investment? Where do we install the fan? Near the floor of the coop or near the roof? Our coop is approx 12'x20'... Is one fan enough?

 

[007Sean]

Howdy, and Welcome to Backyard Chickens.

Happy to have you here with us. Enjoy your time here at BYC!

Thanks for joining our community!

 

[Sparrows]

Hi! And welcome to BYC!