Topic of the Week - Coop Heating and Fire Safety

[Folly's place]

So sorry! Fire is the worst! Mary

 

[RonP]

First off, my electricity comes from a house GFIC outlet to a coop GFIC outlet. Double protection should one outlet ever fail.

I do not provide additional heat for the coop. It is unnecessary and unadvisable for my birds in my zone.

I do provide heat for their water. A modified cookie tin heater, encased in stainless steel.

The heat provided is well below the flash point of ANYTHING inside the coop, but warm enough to keep 5 gallons of water liquid till at least -9F, my coldest recorded coop temperature to date.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

So sorry! Fire is the worst! Mary

Thank you Mary. It was heartbreaking. I sat down and cried on the wet ground that morning. I just felt so bad for the hens. Burned to death in their sleep without a chance. I had stared out the nook window that morning drinking my coffee and had one of those "what is wrong with this picture moments." Then I realized the coop was gone. I literally padded out in my stocking feet in shock, which is why I know the ground was still warm at the ash. There was nothing to demolish as it had all burned down. We picked through and found some nails and hardware is all.

Now I know better. Even in my seasonal, shorter cold snaps, and continuous chilling drizzle (many northeastern transplants complain our winters feel colder than back east), chickens do amazingly well with cold and weather if they can get inside a dry coop at night.

My silly birds even stand in the drizzle. (Well, we all tend to do that as it is always drizzling here.)

But chickens simply do not need heat if dry and out of draft unless you are sub-sub-arctic. And those crazy little chicks...oh my goodness...they didn't read the chick care manual....they scratch and run around in the cold right alongside momma. Crazy.

No need to heat. Stay safe instead.
LofMc

 

[Ridgerunner]

I do not heat my coop. Where I an, with the lowest temperatures I see (a bit below zero F), with the wind protection, and with the ventilation I have it's not necessary. I keep water in black rubber tubs so it doesn't burst the container if it freezes. I set some of those black runner tubs in sunlight (when we have sun), that keeps it thawed to a certain degree. Or if there is no sun I knock the ice out and refill it. No heated water.

I have built in brooder in the coop that I heat with heat lamps. I tossed that clamp that came with them so I am not tempted to use it and use wires to hold them in place so they cannot fall. I do not have any bedding in the brooder so nothing to catch fire. The brooder floor is 1/2" hardware cloth. In cold weather I put a plastic tray (the one from a wire dog crate) under the lamp so the chicks have something solid to catch the heat and keep them warm. The bins under the brooder to catch the poop do not have any bedding in them. I try to keep anything flammable away from the danger area. Just before I start brooding a batch of chicks I dust things off in there, especially the lamp bulb and lamp.

As someone mentioned anytime you use electricity you have risks from breaker boxes, outlets, extension cords, switches, or any connections. Water is a real risk. I use outdoor rated outlets, wires, and all that, even inside the coop. Any cords inside the coop are attached firmly in locations (usually tightly against the wall) so chickens can't try to roost on them. The fire risk doesn't just come form whatever you are using as a heater. It can come from switches, outlets, or anything else you are using. Using those plastic child protection things in outlets can help keep the dust out of them when it's not in use.

@Lady of McCamley did you determine what actually caused that fire? I know it can be really hard to actually determine when everything is burned to a crisp. I could see that bungee melting if it got hot but that's just speculation. There is a risk anytime you use electricity. I choose to brood in the coop so I have to but I do try to be very careful. It doesn't take much.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

I do not heat my coop.
@Lady of McCamley did you determine what actually caused that fire? I know it can be really hard to actually determine when everything is burned to a crisp. I could see that bungee melting if it got hot but that's just speculation. There is a risk anytime you use electricity. I choose to brood in the coop so I have to but I do try to be very careful. It doesn't take much.

From what we can determine...not being fire inspectors....it was likely the flood lamp was somehow knocked down. It is possible the bungee melted, I hadn't thought of that.

I had just added more straw as we were in a real freeze, and I think even ice storm, which we get periodically here.

Other friends (2 in fact) have had the light knocked down into the straw as a bird flies up and hits it.

No matter...whatever caused it, we figured we didn't want to experiment again. Building a coop fully wired wasn't an option, so I went broody au natural.

LofMc

 

[nminusyplusm]

I have no plans to heat my coop (doesn't stay too cold here for extended periods of time) but I'm now realizing I do need to heat the water.

I'm going to run electricity to the coop next year but for now I've studied aart's set up and ordered a preset 50 watt aquarium heater for the bucket nipple waterer which I will plug into a thermo cube that automatically turns on at 35˚F and off at 45˚F. The cube will be plugged into a gfci outdoor power strip with covers for the unused outlets and all of this will be located in the storage area built into the coop, not the chickens' adjacent actual coop. A low temp outdoor extension cord will be plugged into an "in use" outdoor outlet covered gfci outlet at the house. If I have enough money next year, I might add a gfci breaker in the main panel for that circuit. And I'll check it all daily to make sure it stays clean of dust, etc. After that I'll just have to cross my fingers and hope for the best.

I just want to thank all of those who suffered through a tragedy but still thought of us and shared their very painful stories so that we might learn from them.

 

[Sunshine Flock]

Great focus to this discussion.

For extreme climates some folks attach the chicken coop to the greenhouse, and a section of wood stove pipe that passes through the greenhouse, either from the main house or a sauna, can passively warm a shared wall to the coop, with open vents between to the two structures.

And a passive solar building design is an option.

But for existing structures, I'm wondering if you can lower the indoor temperature a few degrees, if not more, but stacking bales of straw on the walls that face the primary movement of wind. For us the winds tend to move in a north and south direction, so stacking bales against those walls could help.

And hanging a collection of used rugs or layers of old wool blankets in between the studs inside the coop could prove useful too.

It seems chickens are fairly hardy down to pretty low temperatures. But some are vulnerable to cold more than others, and it's possible this can trigger illness. And if you don't have electricity in your coop, there are still simple things you can do to raise the temperature; creative things like even layering cardboard neatly between the studs.

Plastic wrap the windows. I'm chemically sensitive, so the plastics would need to be inert and safe. Just be careful closing up some of the ventilation.

Protecting a flock from the cold doesn't have to be pretty or conventional, folks.

 

[lazy gardener]

- If/when supplemental heat is necessary.
I have occasionally provided heat in my coop, but only when temp stays below 0*F for multiple days/nights in a row. Then, it is a minimal amount of heat. I have used a flower pot heater in a 4 x 8 loft coop, and a heat lamp (triple secured) in the 10 x 12 coop. The only time heat is provided is when my birds are demonstrating signs of hypothermia: their appetite is actually decreased, and they are not moving around like they should be.

Other electrical devices in coop: heated dog bowl, heating pad style chick brooders, Power pop door on a timer, some years, supplemental lighting with 9W LED (on a timer).

- Safety precautions to take when providing heat.
Power to coop is run through a GFCI outlet, which is weather proofed at the house. Power at the coop is weatherproofed, and is attached to a power strip with surge protector. Check connections to be sure they are out of bird's reach, and keep all equipment dusted. Rodent proof cord on heated dog bowl. Triple secured heat lamp, including one chain or strong wire attachment.


- Non-electric methods to keep the coop comfortable for the flocks.
Lots of deep litter in the coop. Plenty of natural lighting with good orientation to take advantage of the sun: South windows (2). East window (1). Human door on East side of building with full sized glass. All glass is thermopane.

Not in the coop, but an integral part of my winter management: One bay of the run is closed in with plastic on S, E, N sides, with a green house tarp covering 1/2 of this area. It provides a nice micro-climate which the flock uses on all but the coldest days. Deep composting litter in this area, with frequent addition of extra dried leaves or hay. I occasionally toss some scratch into the litter, and feed sprouts almost every day of snow season. Weather permitting, I also feed the flock outside. (fermented feed). It's fun to go out to visit the birds on a cold blustery day. It can be nasty cold in the yard. Yet, in their sun room, it feels like a spring day, with the sun beating down. The birds will be shuffling through their leaf piles, or even taking dust baths, totally oblivious to the cold.

 

[Sunshine Flock]

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.

 

[sumi]

Here is an article with a few safety tips and some more on heating:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/fire-safety-in-the-coop-and-barn.72414/