To heat or not to heat, that is the question.

[WoodlandWoman]

Was the article in "Chickens" written by someone that's fairly new to chickens, with pets? Heating and using a lot of DE in the litter is most common in that subset of chicken keepers. Did they mention the need for ventilation at all?

 

[rancher hicks]

This is the new Jan/Feb 2012 issue. by Wendy Bedwell- Wilson.

"Besides keeping her bedding dry and aerated, Betsy Burton , who operates local CSA and education center Lyons Farmette, strategically places lamps over her chickens' roosts , which help warm and dry the air inside the henhouse. When temperatures fall below 35 degrees, she cranks up the heat by flipping the switch". - quote

Good garden o' peas! 35* ? I can't believe it. It's been dropping below that here for a week or more. Into the 20's. I've no heat in my coop except for two 60 watt day time lights. The hoop coop doesn't even have that. It would be heaven here if it never went below 20*. I had a broody hatch two for two in the coop and the temps were dropping below zero one year.

Gail Damerow is mentioned in the article as well but I don't see where she recommends heating the coop. She also recommended the Vaseline technique for comb protection.

So for all this, my take is to keep things as dry as possible, but I don't intend to add any heat. My whole point for posting this is the confusion created by differing opinions on heating the coop. I will say this too. Humidity is bad for chickens. They can easily get respiratory disease, so keeping things as dry as possible is important. Warm moist air is a breeding ground for pneumonia.

Lord help us to sort fact from fiction in these matters,

Rancher

 

[elmo]

If you need to add heat to "keep things dry" inside the coop, I would say you've got an underlying management problem: maybe not enough ventilation, or if you're using the deep litter method, maybe that's being incorrectly managed. The inside humidity should be at or close to the outside humidity, and with a proper set up that's not too difficult to achieve.

Turning on heat lamps at 35 degrees sounds a little odd to me, also unless you're keeping breeds known to be sensitive to cold.

 

[Felony]

Quote:
non breathable vapor barrier (plastic sheeting) is to be put on the inside of the coop, no? the idea would be so that the humidity would not create mold in the walls and insulation and condensation in the attic, right? This is what I put in my coop, along with tyvec on the exterior walls. I put a vent at the top of the coop so that the humidity can get out, but the inside of the coop stays farely warm and defenitly draft free...not heated and it as been as cold as -20 degrees celcius here, the chickens have little black spots on the combs (only the 2 that have very large leghorn style combs, not my barred rocks) but nothing serious, and their feet are fine ( 2x2 roosts)

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Articles like that really need to be taken with a grain of salt. Is the author's experience in Florida, Arizona or Minnesota/ mountains or sea level/small 4 bird coops or huge 10,000 bird buildings. All that will make a difference.

Heat may be needed for seramas or another delicate breed but is IMO completely unnecessary.

It's humid here, year round. My new buildings have windows covered only with hardware cloth equal in size to the sq. footage of the floor. It gets to zero and below. Mediteranean breeds with zero health issues.
Bad air and heat kill chickens, not cold.

 

[Tracydr]

Quote:
The fact that she runs a "farmette" and CSA make me wonder if she came to chickens late in life, made a large investment to buy a "farmette" to make the CSA their hobby/living. Makes me wonder how much real-life experience she has.
I recently was reading about somebody on a garden forum who has grown up needing to use heat lamps for various livestock ( baby pigs, brooders, etc). He, his family and extended family have suffered , grwowing up in icy cold NE CO, had suffered at least six major fires during his lifetime specifically caused by heat lamps burning down barns, houses, coops, pig houses, greenhouses, etc.
If that isn't enough to change your mind, well.....

 

[loanwizard]

Well, you've already said you want it snow because it is insulating. I live in Ohio and while not the snowbelt area like you, we get arctic blasts time and again.

IMHO, no heat is necessary, nor vapor barriers, insulation etc..... Make sure that there is plenty of ventilation to regulate the humidity and let em go.

 

[TruGritCkn]

 

[elmo]

Have you seen patandchickens' winter coop page? It's based upon her own experience with Canadian winters:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=1642-winter-coop-temperatures

I used her ventilation page as my guidebook, and if I lived in a cold climate, I'd follow her winter page, too.

 

[kathyinmo]

Rancher,
THIS is the book you need to read!
It was originally published in 1924.

Fresh-Air Poultry Houses
The Classic Guide to Open-Front Chicken Coops for Healthier Poultry
by Prince T. Woods, M.D.

http://www.nortoncreekpress.com/fresh_air_poultry_houses.html

It is also available to read online.
http://books.google.com/books?id=o0...&resnum=2&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false

Here is a thread about it, too. Very good one....
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=445004&p=1