Rooster and Hens with a warming light on 24/7

[MinnieDingle]

We have a Silkie "couple", 4 Rhode Island Red hens and 2 mixed chicks who are in an outdoor pen in southern Ontario. The pen is south facing and built up against a stone house safe from the wind. Winters get pretty cold here, as low as -20 C sometimes, so we have a heat lamp in each coop and a heater below their water. We are keeping an eye out for too much moisture in the coops and we have thermometers in each coop to monitor the temperature. So far, the coops haven't gone below 10C and from my reseacrh it looks like they'll all be fine as long as we keep them from going below 0 C. My question is: Does it bother the hens or the rooster that there is a heat light on in the coop all the time? We tried covering the cage of the lamp with tinfoil but it's still quite light in there! We have heard the rooster crowing at midnight. Is this a problem? Will it affect their health? Thanks so much

 

[Hokum Coco]

Chickens -40º Canada winter 2012 no heat no light.

 

[MinnieDingle]

Wow! OK...thanks. But what kind? Silkies more sensitive to damp, wind and cold apparently.

 

[ten chicks]

Wow! OK...thanks. But what kind? Silkies more sensitive to damp, wind and cold apparently.

I have 6 silkies in a flock of 10,so i do heat my coop. When temp drops,heat kicks in(construction heater with a thermostat,placed outside coop in own shed)i have a opening cut into coop,covered in hardware cloth,construction heater is placed in front of opening so heat blows in. I have used construction heaters to heat crawl space for over 20 years,never had a problem. I do have smoke detectors in my coop also. In the event the power goes off,my birds come into the house.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

You can make a huddle box for them...a little shelter with some tin roofing pieces to cast shade, or something far away from the light (thinking flammability here) like a plastic tote with a hole cut into it and turned upside down. That is what I do for my baby chicks so they can get under it for some darkness but still stay warm, once they are old enough to master going in and out of it.

 

[MinnieDingle]

@ten chicks Thats a great way to heat without the addition of light, thank you!

 

[MinnieDingle]

@ChickensareSweet The tin roofing is a great idea, thank you.

 

[Hokum Coco]

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[4 the Birds]

Blocking direct light is best for the stress of the birds if you choose a light sources. The larger your coop the easier it will be to create dark areas using a Winter light. We use hound heaters in our dog houses which run about $80. They are thermostatically controlled with a dial to have them run at various temps. They are heavy duty and an ideal way to heat a living space without light and if you don't mind the initial cost of the unit.

 

[bullsie]

My weather can be quite severe during winter 25 below zero F for at least two months - doesn't count wind chill factor - and then high humidity levels at 20 - 30 degree temps when it gets there. And on top of that, I can get sudden warm spells into the 70's breaking out. Makes our winters one of the harshest. I never used heat of any source for my birds. The one thing I did do in my coop that made a huge difference was to put a thick layer of styrafoam on the ceiling. I then covered it with a very thin cheap wood material. Helped keep the birds and the coop warm.

I went by the waterers to tell me if I needed different controls. A little ice on the water was fine. But if the weather was excessively cold and a hard crust started on during the day then I would go in at the end of the day when all were roosting and place my single comb roosters and heavy combed hens into the nesting boxes and place a burlap bag over the front, but not completely covering the front - allowing the bottom to show above the nesting box rim. The birds stayed warm, no comb freezing, and in the morning they were out and about as they could scoot out from under the burlap. And I saw that the birds I did leave on the roost were closer together - always a few crabbies in the flock who wanted their roost space. During the day, staying warm isn't a problem as they scutter and scratch about. Night is their worse time.

I also had a dear friend that lived in Ontario and she would shovel snow against the other sides of the building to help insulate her birds. They did quite well that way.

Not sure if any of this will help anyone, but thought I'd add my 2 cents....well, 5 cents now I should think!