Cold chickens.....when to use heat lamp?

[mamaboyd]

I left the heat lamp on all night here, it got too cold. I think my hens had a party too as they layed 11 eggs today compared to the 4 - 5 they have been laying daily lately. We put in a red light bulb today, so we'll see if it makes any difference.
How deep should the deep layer method be for the shavings in the coop be? We keep putting in shavings but the hens squash them down in no time and than everything is hard as a rock on the floor.
We have over a foot of snow around the outside of the coop which also acts as an insulation. I put vaseline on some of the hens combs(the ones I could catch). 2 of my hens have very few feathers on their heads behind the combs, I think they are being picked on. Should I put vaseline on the areas with no feathers too?

 

[LindaN]

The temp here in Chicago dipped down to 8F last night. I'm not sure what the wind chill was. We reached a high of 18F today.

I have an Eglu coop and run. Inside the coop this AM, it was 30F.

There's a small heater pad inside the Eglu that's made to fit inside the Igloo-style dog houses. (This kind in the small size.) Their food and water are inside the run only. I use a birdbath immersion type heater inside their water container to keep the water from freezing during the day. It works better for this set up than a heated dog bowl.

The run and coop is covered in a double layer of thick plastic, and I have an additional layer of a piece of pond liner on top of the Eglu coop itself (I'm thinking another layer is better, and the black color may help...couldn't hurt and I had this extra piece laying around). The whole shebang is positioned on the south side of a large planting bed holding lots of soil and 3 blueberry shrubs. So, the raised bed provides some protection from the north. I've also wedged several dark trash bags full of leaves along the north side between the run/coop and raised beds.

Here's what it looks like from the north.

And here's a closer pic of the set up.

This photo was taken before we got our first snow.

I can't say what the temp in the run is, but it is dry and draft free for sure. I can also feel that it is warmer inside there than it is outside. My 3 hens are allowed to wander in and out of the run during the day. They are getting used to the snow. While they don't wander the yard, they come and go along the "path" of compressed snow from me walking back and forth to their coop and the gate. They still shamelessly beg for scraps and treats.

Here they are begging in the snow.

(Clockwise starting from the top: Selma, Maisy, and Betty.)
To give them something to snuggle into at night, I've been packing the coop with dried leaves. I'm sure this also helps them stay warm at night. They are proving to be quite cold hardy.

It's going to be another cold night, so I packed more fresh, dry leaves into the Eglu for them to snuggle into. They sleep literally piled on top of each other as far as I can tell. That's what I see when I open the egg door each evening for a quick "beak count" before locking them in: Maisy on the bottom, and Betty and Selma on top of her!

 

[Catalina]

Your chickies are so cute!
And I love your set-up with the eglu - good job, looks nice and warm.

 

[jjthink]

Quote:
Not sure about that, but the phone number is right there on the site!
Yes, it really is cold in New England today...and even colder tomorrow!

There is something you can plug it into and then into the wall, which will turn it on at a certain temp and off at another..... I can't remember what they're called.

I plan to call them today to get more info - thanks! It's a lovely 5 degrees here right now. They will not be going out today! We're luicky tho - it starts rebounding tomorrow - to the 30's - and then crazy yummy warm (for January) after that (40's, 50's) which will feel wonderful but it will be hard for them to adjust when it dips again. Cross that bridge later.....
JJ

p.s. So many are talking about problems with their heat also being light and with chickies partying at night. The ceramic heat lamps like the ones used to keep reptiles warm are pure heat, no light, and I've been using them for years. I suspend them in the coop (like you would a hanging lamp in the house) so they are not touching anything.

 

[horsewishr]

Quote:
This came up on my horse BB a few winters ago. There was quite a debate about it. I did a lot of research (online) to see if it was true.

According to physicists, there has never been an adequately designed experiment to really prove (or disprove) this. It is holds true under certain, narrowly defined conditions only. There are too many variables, such as the shape of the container and the depth of the water, starting temperature of "hot" vs "cold," etc., etc.

It is theorized that four forces (convection, conduction, evaporation and something else I can't remember right now) will allow hot water to freeze faster. But the bottome line is, that in cases where hot water did happen to freeze faster, the time difference was never demonstrated to be significant.

The concensus of opinion among horse owners was to give the beasts warm/tepid water, because it might encourage the animals to drink more (while the water was still warm) and only "hot" water supposedly freezes faster.

Interesting topic, though.

 

[JackieK318]

I have two infrared heat lamps that I put in 3 gallon plastic buckets so the metal wouldn't catch fire with feathers, etc. I took a short extension cord, cut it and used the male end to hook into an extension cord from the deck. I wired the bare end of the extension cord into a baseboard thermostat on the inside of the coop (you must get one that is 120 volt and water heater thermostats didn't have the desired temp range). The thermostat then powers the outlet inside. Once it's above 50 degress, the lamps kick off. I've been running two for several days now in St. Louis with no issues.

Cost of all materials ~$80

Heat lamps $6.50 each from Buchheit
Buckets $3 each
Cord $6.50
Thermostat $19
Bulbs $11 (noticed that name brand put off stronger heat than o ff brand)
Extension cord $10
Protective box for outdoor cord union $3
Outlet $.46
Face Plate $.20
Insulated housing $2 each
Wire nuts

Need drill, pocket knife, screwdrivers.

Took a hour. Hang lamps low (not too low, but remember heat rises). Keeps uninsulated 8x10 coop at 35 degrees in single digit windy, weather.

 

[Yukon Chicken]

The last couple of days have seen temperatures around -25 (F) = -35 celcius. I have two hens and one roo in a small insulated coop that is 6 feet across, with a shed roof that measures 4 feet at the front to 5 feet at the back.

When 'warm' winter temperatures keep about -20 or warmer, I don't worry about adding heat. The coop is free from drafts and there is comfortable room for the three to huddle.

In the fall I searched out the drafty spots so to ensur that they were sealed up. The chickens are able to ruffle their feathers and maintain their personal heat so long as there is no breeze to take it away.

Also, each with each morning feed I give a portion of scratch and a portion of layer. The scratch gives them extra energy to produce more heat. They have constant access to grit and oyster shell.

When we had our first cold spell, I created a 'coop furnace'. Using some flexible tin for a 'roof' that fit into the door - a few inches on the inside and about a foot on the outside, a small scrap of plywood for the heater to sit on, and then tucked it all in with a wool blanket to keep the drafts away. Just inside this contraption I inserted a small space heater.

It heated the coop well, although I wasn't completely comfortable with it. There is a slight fire hazard, and the temperature setting is not flexible... it just belts out warm air without a thermostat.

This past weekend I hung the 250w red heat lamp with the brooder lampshade that I used when they were day-olds. It seems to help heat the coop a little, but I'm not that happy with it.

....so I'm still working on a better solution.

Also, this past weekend as I went in to place the heat lamp, there was spattering of blood. I found that my roo had developed frost bite at some point, and he was bleeding. After some phone calls and a bit of research, the immediate first aid called for flour to help stop the bleeding and then application of a salve.

Because our winters are so dry, (not to mention cold), combs can more easily succumb to frost bite. I am now going to ensure the three have lubricated combs... although it still seems a bit 'wrong' to me - wouldn't this process assist in wicking away heat from the comb? hmmm...

Re: frozen water. Each evening I pop up the roof (my access to inside) and pull out the waterer. I use a galvanized can - the type that is tipped over and has a lip. It comes in to the house each night where it defrosts and warms. Before I leave in the morning I put it back inside the coop when I feed.

These chickens were hatched this past June and just started laying their first eggs on Christmas day. So far I have collected 5 eggs!

My only problem is that the eggs have frozen before I collect.

.....that is my story this far. I'll post some pictures in the next few days - when I have a moment.

 

[jjthink]

Wowee kazowie Yukon - you really know what cold is!

I'm in comparitively 'balmy' NJ where it's been single digit wind chills for a couple of days. My 2 are NOT happy in the cold AT ALL - I guess they are not as hardy as other chickens I read about on BYC. So I have a 125 watt ceramic heat lamp in their insulated small 4x6x8 foot high coop and it keeps things well above freezing (40s) even when it's well below freezing outside. So they are reasonably comfy when they are sleeping and their water does not freeze. I suspend the ceramic heat lamp from the ceiling much like you would a lamp in the house. It is not able to touch anything, chickens included.

Their insulated coop resides inside an old uninsulated 22x22 stone building that is so darn cold (they have access to this building during daytime and it leads to their outdoor run) so after a lot of research (mainly about safety) yesterday I bought a Pelonis disk furnace. It's a tiny little thing and throws a lot of heat (I got an 1100 watt - 10 amp - but they also sell 1500 watt - 12.5 amp. My building only has 15 amp service so I didn't want to push the envelope any more between the Pelonis heater, lights, ceramic heat lamp and as it is, I'm only keeping the Pelonis on 'low'. Yesterday the cold stone building seemed to make it to 30 degrees even with the frigid temps outside, the part near the heater anyway).

I share this info in this thread because while I can't many of the posts, lots of folks have posted asking about safe heat sources. Pelonis swears their heaters cannot cause fires because they say the ceramic in them does not go high enough in temp to ignite anything, even if it falls over (certainly hoping this is true). They make a point of noting there is no teflon in the heaters, an important consideration when heating in the vicinity of birds. They said they get a lot of calls from folks with birds. They are in Texas. We''ll see how it goes........at first, I will only have it on when I'm home.....
I also researched EdenPuRE (quartz heater) which had endless ads (including on Paul Harvey) about safety and effectiveness but then found a website with testimonials and they weren't good....people said the unit melted etc. so I backed off EdenPURE.....

Note: When I was taking care of chickens in a coop not inside a larger building I needed more than 1 ceramic heat lamp to keep the coop the same temp that 1 lamp is warming to now.....

It was 3 degrees with wind chill here this morning - more of the same overnight and then we begin to moderate - iut will be in the "balmy" 30's tomorrow!
Be well and stay warm. JJ


Edited to say
p.s The Pelonis disk furnaces do distribute air by internal fan so there is air movement. I wouldn't use it in my small coop (the cermaic heat lamp in there doesn't create any draft) but for the larger building, where BJ and Annie can choose to be near it - or not - it's okay. It's funny - my neighbor has one that is 22 years old and she's still using it but interestingly the heat comes out without seeming to move any air. I talked to Pelonis and they say they say that in the mid-80's their heaters were being made by somebody else and they can't really account for how they did that..........

 

[Yukon Chicken]

Thank you for passing along the info on the heaters. I am also thankful to have the insight of your research. Certainly I'll stay away from the 'fire hazard' and search out the Pelonis.

I guess in sync with the rest of the world, our weather is slightly irratic. This morning the temperature is more akin to NJ. Currently we are -6 F = -11 Celcius. I just walked my dogs and there is an inversion. Low lying cloudy foggy stuff is starting my day.

As I type this the roo is crowing. Since their little coop is beside my house (cabin), I think he hears my alarm and any movement. It is a nice way to start the day.

I will search out any info. I can find on the Pelonis. This is exciting. Hopefully they sell their product in Canada.

I'll keep my discoveries posted.
Happy day to you in NJ.

 

[mosier]

Quote:
I'm glad to read about another person who doesn't heat the coop! I am new to chickens, this is my first winter with them. I have three, a Rhode Island Red, a Silver Laced Wyandotte, and a Buff Brahma. The RIR lays an egg a day...every day. The other two are being stubborn. They are all 31 weeks old.

I have a small (about 4' by 2.5') coop made out of thin plywood (non-insulated) that is exposed on all six sides. It's gotten down to -11F and they've been fine so far. When it's cold and windy they stay in the coop, but they are always free to head outside, as there is no door. I haven't seen any signs of frostbite yet, so I haven't taken any preventative measures.

Their food and water is outside. I do have a heated dog dish for their water. I ran an extension cord from the house to the coop for this.

Photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/79832321@N00/sets/72157600312195114/
Coop explanation here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=11118

How cold is too cold? I have no idea, but I'd like to know. I'm thinking that at -20F I should put in a light bulb or something to help them heat up, but I'm not sure.