Think it's too cold for your chickens? Think again...

[LadyKotaDoria]

just a thought! A Dietz #80 cold blast hurricane lamp puts out 1,400 BTU. If electricity not available, and there is a safe location to hang one or two, as I said in another post. It will take the frost off the pumpkin. It would also control humidity. When I lived on a boat, two kept it warm, one kept it dry. It is low tech, has its negatives but it works. You still can find kerosene at some filling stations. Trim wick and control the flame, the carbon out put should not be a problem. My grandmothers coop had ample ventilation. If you have a tight coop it would be not a good idea.

 

[daoustaj]

If a tiny chickadee bird is fine in the winter, i bet chickens are too!

 

[featherz]

No one can tell you to heat or not to heat, but in most cases it just isn't necessary. I'm in upstate NY and have never added heat, not even for leghorns, bantams and fully feathered pullets. So far so good except for a few tips on a rooster comb gone to frostbite one year we were negative 20 for a week or so (didn't do anything and he was fine).


They honestly don't even seem to notice. It's only gotten down to 20ish or so this year so far and half my birds are still roosting separately from others - they aren't huddling in a corner. I've got about 60 birds in three different coops.

I worry a LOT more in the heat - that's when the birds act stressed!

I do use heated water bowls, but that's for MY convenience so I don't have to break water several times a day. =)

 

[chestypuller]

I dont use heat, but what the heck.

Do what you gotta do i guess.

 

[vmdanielsen]

just a thought! A Dietz #80 cold blast hurricane lamp puts out 1,400 BTU. If electricity not available, and there is a safe location to hang one or two, as I said in another post. It will take the frost off the pumpkin. It would also control humidity. When I lived on a boat, two kept it warm, one kept it dry. It is low tech, has its negatives but it works. You still can find kerosene at some filling stations. Trim wick and control the flame, the carbon out put should not be a problem. My grandmothers coop had ample ventilation. If you have a tight coop it would be not a good idea.

I would seriously reconsider putting a dietz #80 in ANY coop. There would be no SAFE place to hang this thing....A flame and kerosene? In a chicken coop??? I don't think that this is such a good idea.......imo....

 

[ChickenCanoe]

i think people that heat the coop are cruel to the chickens and are causing healths problems maybe even increasing the chickens chance to die.


If you love um dont heat the coop.

Agreed.
An earlier poster mentioned chickens dead from cold during power outages. This is the best reason not to heat. They never get a chance to acclimate and power outages are inevitable.
Also going from a warm space into the cold in the morning is stressful rather than being in the cold all the time.

Chickens die from heat and bad air - not cold.

 

[popsicle]

O
Wouldn't Bag Balm be better the petroleum jelly? Bag Balm is lanolin based with an antiseptic in it with some petroleum jelly.

The standard advice I've seen here on BYC is vasaline. However, the point is I don't want to put anything by any name or ingredient on the birds since I don't have to put anything on them now. If it comes down to me carrying a bucket of water 100 feet a few times a day vs putting ointment on the birds due to increased humidity--I'll carry water.

We are planning on building an actual heated base for the fount eventually, just need to run to town for supplies and haven't had the time. We have the heated dog dish on hand, so we will see if it will work for the time being.

I'm loath to use more electricity than needed, and if I can keep the water heated with a lampbase/lightbulb/timer set up running at 60W or less, then I'm game. If it's using anything more than I'm just not interested. Any of the stock tank heaters I've seen are 250W or more.

 

[vmdanielsen]

Anybody know what happened to MRS AKbirdbrain? the person who started this thread????

 

[coffeegirlJC]

Depending a little on the breed and number of chickens you have, an adolescent to adult chicken shouldn't need any heating. I remind myself that penquins survive the arctic by huddling together, if you are really that concerned and the temperatures drop that low, put them in an enclosed but smaller space, their combined huddling and body heat will allow them to tolerate pretty cold temperatures and save on your electricity bill. I adore my four girls and spoil them rotten but the only reason I keep a light on them is so I can easily check on them at night and to some degree to repel the night loving critters that are looking for a snack. This is their coup and they are pretty happy with it.

 

[LadyKotaDoria]

The standard advice I've seen here on BYC is vasaline.  However, the point is I don't want to put anything by any name or ingredient on the birds since I don't have to put anything on them now.  If it comes down to me carrying a bucket of water 100 feet a few times a day vs putting ointment on the birds due to increased humidity--I'll carry water.  



I'm loath to use more electricity than needed, and if I can keep the water heated with a lampbase/lightbulb/timer set up running at 60W or less, then I'm game.  If it's using anything more than I'm just not interested.  Any of the stock tank heaters I've seen are 250W or more.

There was a time you could only get Bag Balm at feed stores, in a farming town in hardware and drug stores. It has been around spence 1899, it is lanolin (from sheep), a small amount of an antibiotic, and petroleum jelly. All but the petroleum jelly is absorbed. Petroleum is a sealer, holds in the moisture sort of like a band bandaid. I have used in Minnesota for chapped hands and face, in Farida when I worked as a fisherman, taking care of the tinny line cuts and burns, when I got gilled I was surprised at how well it worked. It is used by working men to keep callouses soft and flexible. Originally for cow udders, usually the woman rubbed it into the udders, for chipping in gold Vermont winters. They found that they were soft and duplicate, for hands that were hard working.

For the humidity you could hang (if there is a safe spot) a hurricane lantern, I have picture in another post.