Cozy Coop Heater - Pros/Cons, Pictures?

[topochico225]

I had that heater, and it was compromised after the first ice we had with it and heated up enough to burn my fingers. Definite no from me unless you have outlets inside your coop.

 

[Idaho Chicken Bungalow]

I HAVE the Cozy Coop Heater, so basically, I was looking for answers to the question on the original post. I hope my questions didn't cause any grief.
I do like the warmer as it worked great in the brooder. It's nice because the peeps can "cozy" up to if needed. Still debating on putting it in with my pullets in the coop.

 

[Idaho Chicken Bungalow]

In Central MN and are finally starting to experience the cold of the winters. We started raising chickens in early August and they are just starting to lay eggs. We made our own coop; and 8x8x10 insulated structure, four windows with a ventilation fan inserted in one and currently have plexiglass in the others. We were trying to avoid using supplemental heat because we thought the insulation would be good enough and we have 15 birds housed in it. The first below-0 night had our waterers freeze and the birds were huddled together for warmth. The coop is exposed on the North/West sides so any wind will quickly cool things down. No frostbite but we were concerned. Took care of the water issue with a heated dog dish under the waterer but are currently using the brooder lamp to keep the chill out of the coop. Not what we wanted but is working until we can come up with another solution.

I did a lot of research and saw the Cozy Coop Heater come highly recommended on various websites. Just want to get an opinion from anyone here who has actually used it. My husband wanted to mount a regular electrical heater to the ceiling but I have to assure him we don't need to get that extreme and the Cozy Coop appears to me more cost effective. Anyone here using it and love it? Hate it? If you do use it, where do you put it? We want to mount it on the wall but don't know if we should put it under the roost or directly above the bars (see pre-bird picture below). Any pictures you may have to give us ideas would be helpful. Thanks in advance!

View attachment 2931796

Great questions!

 

[vantain]

It's a warmer not a heater.

This right here….not a heater. The best the Cozy Coop heater can do is warm a chicken IF they stand right next to it. It will not raise the temperature in the coop. I have one. I placed it on a wall near the floor of the coop so they could stand ther to warm up if needed. Mine all completely ignore it. I still put it up in the winter, but honestly it’s for my own satisfaction, since the chickens continue to act as though it doesn’t exist at all.

A better option is a Sweeter Heater, as it does a better job of radiating heat to an animal right beneath it. I use one for brooding chicks, or helping a sick hen through sickness in winter. It’s constant heat, unlike the Cozy Coop heater that cycles on/off. It can be hung directly above the hens on the roost if you wanted. Even there, it won’t change the temperature of the coop. I guess it might if one has a tightly closed up coop, but a properly ventilated one won’t. At least that is my experience.

 

[SpicyDisaster]

We picked one up for a heat lamp replacement in the brooder and did wind up installing it out in the coop when it got down below freezing. The pullets completely ignored it. We've only seen one pullet next to it when it got into single digits and she was molting mess. It is still currently out in the coop as we have a pullet who went broody and has a single 9wk old chick. They have opted to be near to it but not next to it so I'm leaving it on at night while it's getting into the teens and below.

My biggest complaint with the warmer is that I had mounted it using the two screw mount spots and the plastic section for the screw actually broke off. So now it can only be mounted with a single screw on one side. It seems like it should have actually been able to be mounted for longer than two weeks with the provided mounting hardware...

 

[KSCagent99]

We have a similar situation with our coop as yours we installed those cozy heaters in our coop the only time I've turned them on was when it was 10below only for about an hour in the last 3 years I tell some of my city friends there a flat panel TV some amazingly beleave me but I really like them for extreme conditions our roos have very large waddles and combs never had frostbite as seen in my pic 3 panels are mounted on the wall but the key is vent vent vent as high as possible

Is this a barred rock hen? I am new to chickens and my barred rock hens look like yours - but two are crowing! Too young to lay eggs sooooo…

 

[Krugerrand]

We have a forecast of single digits next week, one night being -1. This is without wind chill. The wind always blows here. They roost in a large Overeasy coop https://overezchickencoop.com/collections/chicken-coops-1/products/large-overez-chicken-coop There is a red heat lamp, but was wondering if I should add the cozy coop heater a few nights or is the heat lamp light enough? If you look at the link I would put it by the little door they go out,

You may want to check out this recent thread on those heat lamps:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/coop-fire-last-night.1505970/

Lost all seven of my year old birds. They all took about 20 minutes to perish in the heat and smoke. The clamp on red heat lamp started the fire. Our friends use the same lamp, we thought we'd be fine. We even considered getting those enclosed coop warmers that don't have light bulbs and if we did this wouldn't have happened. I can't even explain the sense of helplessness and despair watching the our flock and coop go up like that right in front of our eyes.

If you have one of those red heat lamps in your coop I suggest re-thinking your climate control solution.

Here we are desperate to save our chickens, knowing that they were all dead already anyway.

View attachment 2944047

 

[3KillerBs]

You may want to check out this recent thread on those heat lamps:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/coop-fire-last-night.1505970/

This is why we say to NEVER trust that clamp.

Put the heat lamp on a chain or a wire -- not flammable string.

 

[SpicyDisaster]

This is why we say to NEVER trust that clamp.

Put the heat lamp on a chain or a wire -- not flammable string.

I've heard of the dust catching fire on the lamp itself which then it wouldn't matter what you string it with as you will have sparks falling into the litter.

 

[3KillerBs]

I've heard of the dust catching fire on the lamp itself which then it wouldn't matter what you string it with as you will have sparks falling into the litter.

Well, I would hope that people keep their lamps clean and carefully remove dust between batches in the brooder.

Nothing is going to be safe if people don't maintain it properly.