Norman90
Hatching
I’ll try and make a long story short, we recently moved and the previous owners had 18 chickens. 17 hens and a rooster. My parents had chickens most of my life so when they asked if we would be interested in keeping them I figured why not.
They currently have a 7x7x7 shed style coop with a 20x15ish uncovered run around it. The food and water is kept in the coop, as soon as I find a way to cover the outside section I will likely move them out there.
The real issue I have is with the heat, they ran a 100w red heat lamp in the coop 24/7 from when it starts getting cold to when it warms back up. It’s mounted to the top of the shed, pretty secure and up out of the way so I’m not concerned with them hitting it, but I highly doubt they need it. My fear now is turning it off and killing them all overnight so I’m assuming I should wait until it’s always above freezing to shut it down? . Would it be safe to stop using it next year as well? They have had it all 3 cold seasons that the previous owners had them, I wasn’t sure if they would now survive next year without it? I’ll at least be installing a switch that only runs it on nights it’s very cold out. Indiana has a few days in winter that it’s well below zero, with up to -20 or so windchill.
The coop is pretty sealed, has 2 6x4ish vents at the top back, and the door the chickens use is always open, but it’s just big enough for a single chicken to go through at a time. All of them around 2-3 years old according to previous owners.
They currently have a 7x7x7 shed style coop with a 20x15ish uncovered run around it. The food and water is kept in the coop, as soon as I find a way to cover the outside section I will likely move them out there.
The real issue I have is with the heat, they ran a 100w red heat lamp in the coop 24/7 from when it starts getting cold to when it warms back up. It’s mounted to the top of the shed, pretty secure and up out of the way so I’m not concerned with them hitting it, but I highly doubt they need it. My fear now is turning it off and killing them all overnight so I’m assuming I should wait until it’s always above freezing to shut it down? . Would it be safe to stop using it next year as well? They have had it all 3 cold seasons that the previous owners had them, I wasn’t sure if they would now survive next year without it? I’ll at least be installing a switch that only runs it on nights it’s very cold out. Indiana has a few days in winter that it’s well below zero, with up to -20 or so windchill.
The coop is pretty sealed, has 2 6x4ish vents at the top back, and the door the chickens use is always open, but it’s just big enough for a single chicken to go through at a time. All of them around 2-3 years old according to previous owners.