To Heat or not Heat my Coop

[Lost Pine]

This is my first winter with my BYC and I was wondering whether or not to put a heater, probably 75 watts in my coop. I live in Southern NJ 10 miles inland from the coast. and we rarely get into single digits, mostly teens in the dead of winter. I have 4 dominicker chickens that are 1 year old in a 4x4 sq ft coop. I believe these are considered winter hardy birds. I've read both pros and cons about heating the coop.
I would like to hear some thoughts on this subject. Thanks in advance for your comments and help.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

I wouldn't. Your birds are more than warm enough sporting a natural down coat and if bothered will go in coop where collectively produce 40 watts of heat.

I'm 500 miles North of your location and don't heat my coops.

The biggest con other than potential fire is your birds have a small coop and would be acclimated to that high temp. They'd not go outside resulting in them literally being cooped up all winter.

 

[azygous]

Don't do it.

First of all, chickens are physiologically equipped to deal with cold temperatures that would freeze our will to live.

Second, subjecting chickens to temperature fluctuations, especially when extreme cold is involved, robs them of the ability to cope efficiently with those extreme cold temps, resulting in discomfort at the very least, and inviting cold and heat related issues at the other extreme.

Chickens have some remarkable biological mechanisms to combat extreme cold, and trying to heat their environment can cause problems. Their feathers function as excellent insulation against the cold, and if they have to sleep in a heated coop, those very feathers then become a source of discomfort. They have a "heat exchange" mechanism in the blood circulation in their legs that cools the blood going to their feet, preventing their feet from freezing. Heating their coop interferes with this very efficient mechanism, actually increasing the risk of frostbite.

We do out chickens no favors by heating their coops.

 

[MountainManFowl]

I've never heated my coops, either. We have -30 temps here and our birds always winter over well.

 

[jcoz]

My ladies didn't even start to fluff up last winter until it hit single digits (F degrees), and that was their first winter. Even at -15F, it was chicken business as usual. Negative 15 outside, but suprisingly warm in the coop. Ventilation to control any humidity and a dry coop are key. No frostbite. The hardest part was keeping water from freezing, as the coop has no electricity. I'd fill the waterer with warm water and wrap the reservoir with one of those "fat burner" neoprene belts, plus the girls putting off heat, and was getting 10 hour stints with no icing. I have one barred rock this year who just grew her butt fuzz back in from moulting. She was not a gracious moulter and looked like she did battle with a weed whacker. Luckily temps have been in the 30s to 40s. It's coming tho. Erie PA can run you through all 4 seasons in one day

. Gotta love the Great Lakes region and lake effect. Don't like the weather, wait 20 minutes.

 

[Howard E]

Looking, and rather surprised that I don't have any good ones around. I do have a couple videos, and have grabbed a screenshot of the front of the coop and the side of the coop from them.

Weather/time permitting, I'll take photos all around the coop, focusing on the features that were intentional for keeping chickens, in general and in this climate.

For now though....





I deemed it likely that this old coop would last at least this winter without falling down, and cleaned out half of it for my chickens. I need to ask folks in my wife's family how long they know this coop as stood there. As people passed, the coop became a place to store junk. Lots of broken glass, nails, and junk, plus a busted up shallow concrete floor.

I cleaned everything out of the half I was using, including what was left of the floor, and put in class-5 rock to a depth of 3 to 4 inches to help level it out and be sure I wasn't leaving anything exposed. I also went around the building filling in cracks with expandable foam where that would work, and nailing on plywood in places where the gaps were too big.

After that I created a wall dividing off the half of the coop I'd prepared with chicken wire and plywood. I put chicken wire over all the windows from the inside, and the access to the "attic." As the ground squirrels - who had made this coop home for decades - didn't have any trouble slipping through the chicken wire, I put 1/4 inch hardware cloth over the interior wall to a height of 4 feet, I think, and spent a couple weeks trapping the things. Seem to have convinced them to move elsewhere for now.

I knew I would be encircling the coop with electric netting, or I would of used half-inch hardware cloth over the windows.

Then I covered the floor with 6 to 8 inches of wood shavings. Since then I've added straw, and wood shavings.

I plan to "rebuild" this coop. There isn't much salvageable, but I'm going to follow the same design and size. I do plan to use a dirt floor, and not poor concrete.

Features that I've noticed, that I'll try to show when I take photos:

The wall with the windows is the south wall. If you look at the side photo, you can see that it is a good bit higher than the north wall. As a result, the solar radiation absorbed through the windows has less space to heat up than it would if the walls were the same height. Also, there is a roof in the coop at wall height, so still less interior space to warm up, and airspace above that acts as insulation.

The building is double-walled.

Those are some big cupola's on the top of the coop. Originally (one still has it in operation) there's a pipe that runs down from the attic to about 18 inches off the floor, that has holes perforating it for the bottom few feet. So the cupola's are - when working properly, drawing air from chicken height up and out of the coop. Right now, ceiling isn't air tight enough for this to really work, and the pipe still in place is of course over on the half of the coop I'm not using.

I'm sure there are other features to this coop. I need to research, as I know I've seen others built this way on old farms. People knew what they were doing, back in the day. I'd like to learn all I can from what they did.

Wesley:

You coop seems to resemble an old historic design called a ........wait for it..............Minnesota House!




Images and info taken from here:

https://books.google.com/books?id=B...C#v=onepage&q=fool proof poultry house&f=true

Minnesota house is talked about on page 28. Note that right behind that is a similar looking Massachusetts house (seems every state needed their own chicken house design).

The roof vents may be similar to what they referred to as the "King" ventilation system. Those are described on page 6 of the book. Look around on the inside to see if you have some inside drop down doors on the front near the ceiling.......with openings on the outside below those.

The cupalas on top resemble some fancy roof vents of the time. Another brand was Star vents, and I still see some of those on old hay barns.

Not sure they are needed, as the Massachusetts house didn't use them or have windows and they seemed to work OK.

 

[Hokum Coco]

I was wondering whether or not to put a heater, probably 75 watts in my coop.

I am subject to -40º weather l live in Canada think North Pole. I have been keeping chickens and birds for decades.

Your best practice I find is to not be too concerned about winterizing or heating your coop to help your birds combat the cold.

Predator proofing "ABSOLUTELY".

Your efforts should be spent in winterizing your birds and letting them acclimatize to their surroundings.
This is done by feeding them whole corn an added supplement in a separate feeder.

The extra nourishment is more then adequate to bring them through the
"COLDEST" winter.

Do keep an eye open for birds that maybe not be adapting well to the new menu and may be at the lower end of the pecking order they can sometimes run into problems and may need extra TLC.

That being said in a perfect world the flock will flourish and do just fine .

I do not add any extra heat or lighting.
Egg production does slack off but I have more than enough eggs for the table all winter long (24 hens).

Some people may disagree with my method but it has worked well for me and I am not about to change.

I look at it in the same light as winterizing your car.

You really do

"NOT"


have to winterize your car if you can keep it in a controlled environment at all times otherwise you are in for

"MAJOR" problems.

When it comes to lighting if you find you are short on eggs it does apparently help. I personally do not bother in my operation eggs are sold only to neighbours when they are available (if the sign is out I have eggs). Eggs in my operation have a tendency to crack and freeze during the winter months (we do not discard them and are fine but use them in house not for sale) the more eggs you produce during these months the more eggs will fall into this category.

I have roughly 24 Golden Comet hens the longest I ever been out of eggs can be measured in hours >12<24. You will find that the egg supply in any hen is a finite resource the quicker you milk the eggs out of a hen the faster it will be spent and end up in your stew pot.

On average one hen produces somewhere between 600 to 700 eggs in its life time. Lighting only effect the speed of delivery of the eggs which at the end of the day would amount to less than a year in the hens life is my guess

If you do decide extra lighting is necessary have your light on a timer to lengthen the day "MAKE SURE IT IS SECURED BY 2 MEANS OF SUPPORT" one being a "SAFETY CHAIN" in case one fails especially if it is an incandescent bulb or heat lamp.

I personally raise hens as a hobby; and for their manure to enrich my vegetable garden any thing else the hens provide is merely a bonus.

Here is one BONUS NOW not many people can enjoy seeing in their back yard on a regular basis.

 

[bigz1983]

I just got some backyard chickens too and I'm still learning. I live in Michigan and it gets cold here too.

I have been putting the egg layer feed in a gravity feeder and I just dump the cracked corn on the ground.

Should I put cracked corn in a feeder instead?

So basically if I give my chickens cracked corn that will keep them warm during the winter and I wont need to heat my coop?

 

[Folly's place]

Corn is a treat, so should be less than 10% of their daily diet. A scatter a SMALL amount of scratch every day or two, so they come when I call them. The balanced diet needs to be free choice in the feeder, not corn or treat type items. Mary

 

[Hokum Coco]

Should I put cracked corn in a feeder instead?

So basically if I give my chickens cracked corn that will keep them warm during the winter and I wont need to heat my coop?

You will find as many answers to this question as there are backyard chicken owners (I prefer whole corn personally). I would suggest you experiment with what you hear and do what is best in your situation. Everyone has their own twist on this topic. I have nearly 67 trips around the sun. I know what works for me but my winters are probably more harsh the most on this form.