Topic of the Week - Coop Heating and Fire Safety

[Mulderitsme00]

Has anyone tried the salt water bottle trick? Fill a bottle with salt water and insert the bottle in your large waterer of fresh water. Supposedly it will keep the water from freezing.

Looking for safe solutions to try because we will be gone for a night during Christmas.

 

[lazy gardener]

That salt water bottle trick simply won't work in "real" cold weather. The theory behind the "salt water bottle" is this: the bottle will bob around in the container, and that bobbing motion will prevent the water from freezing. Well... perhaps in climates where the ice may only skim over now and then. But, here in snow country, even water falls and brooks with plenty of moving water will eventually freeze solid!

 

[Mulderitsme00]

That salt water bottle trick simply won't work in "real" cold weather. The theory behind the "salt water bottle" is this: the bottle will bob around in the container, and that bobbing motion will prevent the water from freezing. Well... perhaps in climates where the ice may only skim over now and then. But, here in snow country, even water falls and brooks with plenty of moving water will eventually freeze solid!

Ah, yeah that makes sense!

 

[Sunshine Flock]

What do we need to know about extension cords? Outdoor approved only, but what else beyond that?

Is there good reason to use duct tape around the connections? People use extension cords for Christmas lights, so where two cords connect together is often exposed to the elements. In a coop should that connection point be wrapped and/or hung on a wall and not allowed to sit in pine shavings?

I've always worried about extension cords, but I haven't learned anything about them.

 

[Cluckies]

@CarolinaSunshineFlock I use this extension cord Water tight cord lock when I need to use an extension cord outside for any reason...

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

One more thing:

My husband and I were talking about the dangers of heat lamps. He was wondering how they cause fires if the bulbs are screwed tightly into a ceramic mount and the wiring is out of the reach of chickens. I told him the bulbs sometimes loosen from the socket and fall, and others have broken at the base.

Someone mentioned dust in the coop, just floating in the air, can coat a bulb and catch fire.

What are other scenarios of how heating lamps start fires? I'll never use one, but it'd be helpful knowing examples.

Heat lamp bulbs can just explode.

I use heat lamps to brood my chicks than that's it. I have seen too many fires caused by people trying to provide heat to their animals, or to keep pipes in the barn from freezing.

My birds, and all my outside critters do fine here in Wisconsin without heat. It does get into the -20's with -40 wind chills a few times a winter. Everyone does fine. Proper housing is more important for me. The roosters get a bit of frostbite, and sometimes someone loses a toe. To me it's much better than the constant worry of fire.

 

[lazy gardener]

@CarolinaSunshineFlock I use this extension cord Water tight cord lock when I need to use an extension cord outside for any reason...

I have used that cord lock when connecting cords. However, IMO the safest is to have a single cord, without having to connect a second one. Spend the money to buy one that's long enough to do the job if that's an option.

 

[Folly's place]

For my stock tank horse trough heater, I use an outdoor extension cord, and place the connection on bricks, under a black rubber water dish, with bricks holding it down. So the connection is off the ground, on and under non-flammable materials, not in or near a structure.
It's not ideal, but has worked well. It's plugged into a GFI outlet, covered, outside.
Mary

 

[BantyChooks]

No heat here in any form. I refuse to run an extension cord to the coop. Others have covered the topic well already.

 

[junebuggena]

No heat here at all. A neighbor used a heat lamp last year during a cold snap (got down to 17 degrees), secured with chains. The whole coop burned down. All it takes is one excited flapping of wings. During this same cold snap, I had 5 week old chicks that had just moved out of their brooder to their outside coop, and they were just fine.