Turning the coop heat off?

Norman90

Hatching
Mar 2, 2018
2
3
9
Central Indiana
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.
 
Welcome to BYC!

I doubt it would kill them to turn it off now. But I would check to see how warm is that lamp really keeping the coop by putting a thermometer in the coop and comparing it with the outside temp.

Might be better to just leave it on until things warm up since it's what they are used to. Chickens don't like change and just the change in lighting(not heat) may throw them for a loop.

No, you won't need it next year, really not even on the coldest nights.
You're going to get a lot of posts about the horrible dangers of heat lamps,
they're true, but....don't despair.

You might need to increase ventilation tho....and maybe decrease your flock population. 17 birds in 7x7 is tight space.

Are you in northern or southern Indiana...can be a big difference there.
Might want to add your location to your profile as shown below,
so it will show up under your avatar.
upload_2018-3-2_7-29-13.png
 
First, welcome to Back Yard Chickens!!!!! You've come to the right place!!!
:welcome
:frow:wee:frow

Second... Go to your profile page and add your approximate location to make it easier for people to follow along, but I did see your from Indiana

Third... the heat issue. This year was one of the bitterest I've ever seen in Ct. Temps below freezing for a couple of weeks and wind chills that were killer. That said, I never gave my girls heat. Looking at the forcast maps for the country, it looks like Southern Indie is down in the 40s for lows and Northern is in the 30s. I would say turn off the light during the day today and then don't turn it on tonight. They might get a little culture shock from it, cause they're used to the light, but they'll get over it. It may give them a hiccup in the egg production for a day or two, but otherwise they'll be fine.

Welcome back into the chicken community!!!
 
Welcome. Your birds will be fine w/o heat, even if you turn it off now. Look at it this way: they probably have been going outside almost every day this winter, yes? And it's cold outside. My birds have no extra heat with night time temps down to minus 14 this winter for prolonged stretches of time, with quite a few days that did not make it up to 0! Ventilation is important, even in cold weather.

Agreed with Aart, your coop is over stocked. That is something you might want to fix. General recommendation is 4 s.f./bird in the coop, and ventilation = 10% of floor space or 1 s.f./bird
 
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.
Yeah, you can wait 'til it's consistently mild, then I'd pull it out altogether. They don't need the heat. One Canadian member I know never heats her coop, and her place is well below 0* most of the winter. Your birds will be fine as long as their bodies have the chance to acclimate slowly. If they get chilly they'll huddle together in the coop & let their body heat warm them.
 
First the size issue. It sounds like those 18 chickens have lived in the coop and run for three years. I'm a firm believer in the more room the better, you can follow the link in my signature to see my reasons. Chickens do not have a concept of coop space versus run space, that's a human thing. Since that pop door is always open they are not restricted to that 7x7 coop, they can take advantage of that 15x20 run too any time they need it. It's obviously worked for three years, I'm not going to tell you that it won't work. You have about 19 square feet per chicken, most people will tell you that that is enough.

Of course it's not that simple. In Indiana you can have weather that will restrict the chickens to the coop only some of the time, that run is not always available. In theory you should have behavior problems in those times. But one of the factors in how much room they really need other than just nice to have is flock dynamics and the personalities of the individual chickens. Evidently you have a flock that takes confinement in those conditions quite well.

Personally I would not want that many chickens in that small a space. They poop a lot and at night they are not moving around. The area under the roosts will require some serious poop management. You might have other issues that cause you extra work. With the chicken density that high you don't have much flexibility in handling any emergencies that come up. If you ever have a hen go broody and hatch and raise chicks, that room is really tight. The high risk time is after the hen weans them until they mature enough to force their way into the pecking order. There are different reasons to not have that chicken density but obviously it has worked for three years.

Then there is the predator issue. With that run not covered and the pop door always open a raccoon or some other critter could climb over that fence and kill chickens. The way predators work you might go another 30 years without a problem or you could have a raccoon climb in there tonight. It has worked for three years but the risk is there.

Now the heat issue. There are people on there that talk about chickens sleeping in trees in areas further north than you, even if you are in northern Indiana. I've seen chickens sleep in trees with the temperatures not getting above 0 Fahrenheit for about a week. Just like the wild birds that overwinter where you are chickens can handle cold a lot better than people think. Those chickens were not on a bare limb overlooking a bluff squawking defiantly into the teeth of a blizzard. They were in a sheltered area that blocked the wind and they had great ventilation.

When we restrict chickens in a coop we can create two problems. Moisture is bad, it can lead to frostbite. With that many chickens in that space you can get a lot of moisture from their breathing and from their poop. To get rid of that moisture you need good ventilation. There are different ways to provide that.

The other issue is wind. It's not just wind chill, but the way they stay warm is to trap tiny bits of air in their feathers and down. These air pockets are what makes down such a good insulator. If a breeze ruffles their feathers that can release those air pockets and destroy that ventilation. A little air movement is good, it gets rid of moisture. The way their feathers lay if they can face into a breeze it will take a decent breeze to ruffle feathers. But you don't want to create a wind tunnel in the coop.

There are different ways to have good ventilation yet keep the out of a direct breeze. I like having openings at the top of different walls with the roosts low enough that any breeze passes over their heads. Another method is to have the roosts in a cul de sac with the ventilation on the other end so they are not in a direct breeze. Even if i knew exactly how your coop is set up I would not know if you have enough ventilation or not without that light. Since warm air rises it is possible the heat from that lamp is causing the warmer air in the coop to be pushed out by the heavier colder drier air outside. If you do turn the light off watch for signs of frostbite or condensation in the coop. A lot of people have solved those kinds of problems by cutting holes in their coop, just watch out for wind tunnels.

Good luck and welcome to the forum. Glad you joined us.
 
Thanks for all of the replies, I was worried about the number of chickens kept in the coop at first but I haven’t had any issues and when I check on them in the evening everyone seems to have a spot roosting without a problem so I’m not terribly concerned yet, but I’ll keep an eye on it.

I do plan to add some sort of cover to the outside run area the coop has attached to it, I just need to wait until it’s warm and figure out a plan for putting a roof over at least a portion of it.

As far as being out of the coop during the day, the run is actually located within my chain link fence my dogs run in, the chickens get a few hours on most afternoon/evenings to run in a fenced in area that’s about .75 acre. The dogs and chickens are never out together unless I’m out there with them. So far the dogs have zero interest, but I also have parrots inside the house that they have been around for a few years now, no Interest in them either.

I haven’t worried much about predators yet. My dogs are typically inside the house at night but animals would have 2 separate fences to figure out before they were able to get in the coop. My exterior fence is chain link, the fence around the coop is the cheap metal fencing with an extra 2x4 along the base of it to keep anything from pushing it up. As soon as it’s nice enough to clean things up ill possibly get some photos, might help get some ideas with how to cover part of it and what changes I need to make.
Thanks again!
 
If they have been outside, they have been exposed to different temperature, and you can turn it off. Chickens do not need a constant temperature, can easily survive a rather large temperature swing. In SD, in ordinary weather, we have sometimes 50 - 60 degree changes and animals do just fine.

The space is or could be an issue. You might consider culling anything that is not too productive. If they are 2-3, probably hatchery birds, there is a real possibility, that some might just die. I have and others have had that happen. I just don't want you surprised or feeling that it is your fault. Chickens are often not real long lived, and chickens productivity decreases with age.

Good luck, it is a fun hobby.
 

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