will putting in a heat lamp.......

[kerrysmommy]

i have a chicken and is in a coop by itsself.......it does not get along with the others at all and i have tried everything (its a silkie) and i have tons of shavings in there too to keep it warm. so i guess my question is if i put a heat lamp in the coop will it keep her warm and keep the waterer from freezing????

 

[JodyJo]

how old is the chicken? if it is fully feathered, it should be fine...
where do you live, how cold does it get at night?

 

[kerrysmommy]

it is 5 months old here at night its been going to the 2o's and in December might get way colder prob negatives and heavy snow

 

[kerrysmommy]

any one???i would also like to do this so it might keep the coop warm enough so the water dosnt freeze.....................

 

[Eggcessive]

I don't think you need to heat your coop if it is draft free, but you can do several things to keep the water from freezing. The simplest is to buy an electric heated dog bowl available at any pet store or walmart in the winter (about $29). There is a thread on here about cookie tin water heaters that you can make for about $10, and there are the $40-50 water bowl heaters at the feed stores that go under a regular chicken waterer. If you absolutely want heat in your coup I might think a ceramic heater (about $16) would be fairly safe if you bolted it to the wall. Aheat lamp isn't all that safe for full time, plus unless you use the red bulb it would keep your chicken awake.

 

[dakotasnake]

you can safely use a heat lamp IF it is properly secured. i use one on a 5 gal. waterer during the winter {minus 0 to -20 } i secured it directly above the waterer on a board that is screwed on and i screwed the lamp to that then used wire to further secure it. it would take 6 men and a boy to nock it off there.

 

[kerrysmommy]

i would only use a red bulb in the heat lamp....... and can you make a water heater that uses batteries?

 

[dakotasnake]

in a word no. not one that would work very good

 

[JodyJo]

I have the heater base that goes underneath my 2 gal metal water container...temps down to 5* already, no freezing of the water, which I keep inside the coop, food outside in run.

If no drafts, you won't need to add a heat lamp...not a great choice, prevents the chickens from acclimating to the colder temps.

 

[yinzerchick]

Ugh...how do yinz deal with that cold weather already?? Sooo glad freezing water is the least of my problems. However, when I live up north where freezing water was a problem, I bough a heated water bucket. (It was for goats, but I would recommend it for chickens too.) If you don't have electric in the coop or barn where your keeping them, run an extention cord for the bucket/ water heater... or get ready to go fill up waterers a couple times a day. Battery opperated heaters haven't worked out well for anyone I know of. Good luck!