Coop heat

[gw333]

Please note: I am very new to this and may ask some dumb questions. I am planning on building a coop and getting some chickens (15 to 20). I understand little chicks need to be kept warm. I would like to put a heat lamp in the coop but the location will be away from electricity. Anybody have any ideas about solar powered heat lamps?

 

[robin416]

Are your hens going to be hatching the chicks or are these going to be chicks that you buy or hatch yourself? If the hens are doing the hatching they will also do the keeping chicks warm part too.

Solar anything is very expensive and to have solar powered heat you would also need batteries to store the power for when the heat lamps are needed. Which means then you would also need the converter/inverter to be able to utilize the power stored in the batteries.

How far is the new coop from existing power? My coop is almost 200 feet from power. I've run heavy duty extension cords to the coop for the chicks I have out there without a hen to keep them warm. I have a bell lamp with an outside red spot light hanging close to the sand floor. Its been enough to prevent any losses from the cold. Its inconveniet but works until I can run permanent power down there.

 

[slystr]

I found this in my research. You might be able to get some idea from this.HTH
http://www.solarpowergeneration.com/winner3.html

 

[bigzio]

gw333, alot of folks simply run a extension cord if possible, works great if that is a option for you.

bigzio

 

[gw333]

Thank you for your replies. I don't have any chickens yet, so there wont be any adult birds to keep the little ones warm. The coop will be 300 to 400 feet away from an electrical outlet. I don't have a garage to keep them in. So, I'm still researching things. But, I'm an optimist, so I'll keep y'all posted on how things go.

 

[robin416]

OK, some more thoughts for you. Spring is here, more or less. This nasty cold business is on its way out again. The need for heat won't be such an issue.

Are you looking at Standards or Bantams? How many are you thinking of getting?

I've got chicks in a cage located about three feet in front of my desk. I've had as many as 30 birds in here at one time, I'm not going to claim that was the best move on my part but it worked in a pinch. The time I had 30 in here 24 were guinea keets and they were flying at 2 weeks old.

I imagine that was funny to someone but not for me when I walked in here a couple of times and found keets all over the place.