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

[featherz]

For those of you using heated dog dishes...how do you keep them clean? I have a bowl, and my d'uccles are constantly throwing their bedding into it. The bowl becomes full of soggy shavings. If I catch the bowl with only a few shavings in it, the water is still cold to my hand and my fingers ache (I don't handle cold well) when I try to scoop the shavings out. The bowl is up a little bit, I push the shavings away from the water bowl so they have to work at getting the shavings into the bowl, plus I have the bowl under the "shield" that goes with the summer water bowl (they get shavings in it too but I don't mind as much since my fingers don't hurt with cold).

Is this just going to be the procedure for winter for me or is there something else I can do?

CG

I elevate mine on a concrete paver, then just dump it into a 'dirty' bucket each day and put new water from a 'clean' bucket. It's never sparkling clean for long, but they aren't pooping in it (much lol). I use nipple waterers the rest of the year. Much easier.

 

[Triplell]

See this article for my mods to a dog dish:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/21-heated-water-dish

Note that it's only good to about 10 degrees F (-12 C) and then it freezes up.

I use the larger heated dog dishes and they may have some frost on the edges but do not freeze even at -40F. I live in MN.

 

[bruceha2000]

it's reassuring to read this thread. my small flock (5 birds) have a nice coop w/ little to no draft. i find myself wanting to give them heat when it gets to 32 & lower. the fear of fire stops me.
to read that y'all w/much lower temps have birds do ok w/o heat reminds me to leave the heat lamps in storage.
thanks

32 F is nothing. My girls are ecstatically wandering outside when it gets hot like that. They do it at 20 F as well. Much below that and they hang in the barn unless it is sunny or not windy. They are tougher than most people think. Including me before I had them

My wife did have me put their 250W red brooder light in the coop when it got down near -20 F. But I really don't think it did much. The coop is 120 sq feet and 7 feet tall. The top 3 feet in the front are open (meaning wire only) as is a foot at the top on the sides (also 4' wood wall with 3' of wire above). The back is solid wood and the "roof" is the floor above, also open between the joists (ALSO covered with 1/2" hardware cloth). The lamp was secured to the joists and pointing down forward of the roosts. How much heat could they have really gotten? But one has to listen to the wife, right?

Bruce

 

[CGinJCMO]

Quote:
Thanks for the idea to dump it into a bucket...I didn't like dumping onto the coop floor, but it wasn't easy to take out of the coop to dump either. So simple,but it eluded me.

CG

 

[groverlvchx]

For those of you using heated dog dishes...how do you keep them clean? I have a bowl, and my d'uccles are constantly throwing their bedding into it. The bowl becomes full of soggy shavings. If I catch the bowl with only a few shavings in it, the water is still cold to my hand and my fingers ache (I don't handle cold well) when I try to scoop the shavings out. The bowl is up a little bit, I push the shavings away from the water bowl so they have to work at getting the shavings into the bowl, plus I have the bowl under the "shield" that goes with the summer water bowl (they get shavings in it too but I don't mind as much since my fingers don't hurt with cold).

Is this just going to be the procedure for winter for me or is there something else I can do?

CG

We are in MN and just had another cold snap of fifteen below Farenheit actual (not windchill--that was much colder but doesn't count in the coop) All winter I have used a heated doggie dish for my chickens' water, but not just with open water. I have a traditional plastic chicken waterer (white jug, red screw-on base). I put about an inch of sand in the doggie dish, plugged it in, and set the waterer on the sand. At first I had too much sand under the waterer and their water was freezing solid if the temp went to single digits. Now that I took much of the sand out, they still had some open water in the red base when I brought fresh yesterday morning, even though it was -15*F during the night. Sure, the water in the white jug froze. I bring fresh water every morning and there's always some left when I do, so I know they're not dehydrating. I feed fermented feed, and I use two more heated doggie dishes for that because it was freezing faster than they could eat it. They clean it all up now by the next morning when I go to feed them again. They are doing great and don't seem to mind the cold at all. I am getting bedding and feathers in the feed dishes, but I guess they don't mind.

 

[Gargoyle]

We are in MN and just had another cold snap of fifteen below Farenheit actual (not windchill--that was much colder but doesn't count in the coop) All winter I have used a heated doggie dish for my chickens' water, but not just with open water. I have a traditional plastic chicken waterer (white jug, red screw-on base). I put about an inch of sand in the doggie dish, plugged it in,

is the sand for stability, or does it help retain and distribute the heat?

 

[groverlvchx]

is the sand for stability, or does it help retain and distribute the heat?

I have no idea...I learned it on BYC and tried it. Stability sounds good....and they enjoy a bit of sand once in awhile so it doesn't hurt. The bottom of the waterer is ridgey so maybe it helps distribute heat but I don't think it retains well--that's why I had to cut back on the amount.

 

[jkhenry]

i have 3 week old chicks and using 250 watt red light guessing now is a time to switch to a smaller wattage

 

[Mell62]

I too have 250 watt infared bulbs in the coop and duck house. After reading about the Les Farm tragedy, they are now unplugged. Both buildings are insulated, still finishing up on the duck house. I noticed last night just how much dust was on the bulb (mainly the coop) and the pillow stuffing I have partially covering the upper air vents. It made me shudder to see soooo much build up especially on the bulb. For those who are using bulbs in their coops, check for dust daily! The girls have only gone into the coop a couple of times, and only because it was windy out, they didnt care that it had been -10F. They just dont like the wind. I have an old sheet with a split down the middle over their door, it keeps the wind out and the coop is warm. Usually about 10 degrees higher than the outside temperatures. As for my silly ducks, they only go inside at night. Snow and wind blowing and where are they? In the pond of course. What I wanted to mention for light in the coops/house I have solar sting Christmas lights on the inside (no heat comes from the bulbs) They turn on automatically and generally last thru the night. I found these at the local drugstore on clearance, both multi-color and white. I originally bought them for camping. You can probably find these online outside the holidays. They are 24 ft long, with 50 lights. I used the multi-colored lights inside as they arent as bright as the white ones. The girls got used to light and wouldnt go inside on their own at night and this solves the problem and gives me piece of mind.

 

[KimberlyK0509]

I really really need some advice. I have 14 1-2 week old chicks. I put them in a larfe brooder that will hold them while they go through their t-rex stage until they can go outside. Some of them lat far away from the lamp some closer but no one under the lamp. Is this ok? Temp is 80 degrees?! New mom here any help would be awesome!