Heating coop during cold Manitoba winter

[laurawaylon]

I have finally completed building my coop and now I need to figure out a safe heat source. I have read so many conflicting articles on this topic. I live in Manitoba and here our winter weather can be brutal. where I live it is cold, windy and snowy. We have temps that rang from -20C to -50c in the winter. I am wanting to know what other people in manitoba do to ensure their chickens are warm enough. I only have 4 Silkies and they are currently 3 months old. We have built an insulated 8'x3.5' coop with a large outdoor run. I have placed some vents high up in the coop to allow for ventiltion. My concern is that the chickens won't be warm enough on these bitterly cold days. I also don't want to use a heat lamp as I have heard and seen too many horror stories. Being that my coop is on the smaller side I am not comfortable hanging a heat lamp in there as I feel the chickens would be able to hit it. Any suggestions about heat for manitoba winters would be great. Also looking for safe heat sources for coops. Thanks!

 

[17 chickens]

I use heat lamps in the winter, I make sure the are up high enough that they can't hit them to get burned. I also nail it to the area that I hang it from and check it a few times a day just to be safe. When we loose power during the bad parts of winter I will use straw for extra bedding on the floor and stack up straw against the outside of the chicken house to help keep the cold out. I also will put up a few as a wind breaker in the coop run to hep protect them. Hope this help a bit...

 

[Alaskan]

there are radiant heat panels that are much safer than heat lamps. Also... with silkies and such bitter cold, and since you only have 4......maybe make them a cute little roosting nest/box to sleep in, instead of a perch. If you do go with a perch, make it WIDE so their feet can be flat on the perch.

Also give them light, 10 hours is good, so that they have enough time to eat.

 

[Hokum Coco]

I need to figure out a safe heat source.

The safest and best heat source for you chickens is an extra feeder filled with whole corn. I have been raising birds for decades and have 67 trips around the sun. My birds are subject to -40º temperatures with no heat or light.

Extra TLC should be given to those birds at the lower end of the pecking order or those who may not be adjusting well to the new diet. That being said your flock should flourish and do just fine.
If for these reasons you may have to provide a temporary heat source if using heat lamps make sure they are anchored by TWO SUPPORTS one being a safety chain.

Secondly if you find it necessary to run and extension cord make sure your outlet providing power is a Ground Fault Outlet. It seem like every year one of our members loose there coop to fire that these two safe guards may have prevented.

 

[laurawaylon]

The safest and best heat source for you chickens is an extra feeder filled with whole corn. I have been raising birds for decades and have 67 trips around the sun. My birds are subject to -40º temperatures with no heat or light.

Extra TLC should be given to those birds at the lower end of the pecking order or those who may not be adjusting well to the new diet. That being said your flock should flourish and do just fine.
If for these reasons you may have to provide a temporary heat source if using heat lamps make sure they are anchored by TWO SUPPORTS one being a safety chain.

Secondly if you find it necessary to run and extension cord make sure your outlet providing power is a Ground Fault Outlet. It seem like every year one of our members loose there coop to fire that these two safe guards may have prevented.

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Your chickens do fine with regular temperatures in the -40C for extended periods of time? Our winters here are in the -30C to -50C for weeks at a time from December to March. I wouldn't be worried I'd it was the occasional day of those temps but we can go weeks with those extreme temps.

 

[aart]

I sure wouldn't count on corn, it's bit of a fallacy that whole corn will keep them warmer.

there are radiant heat panels that are much safer than heat lamps.

This^^^^

 

[Hokum Coco]

Your chickens do fine with regular temperatures in the -40C for extended periods of time?

I have experienced Arctic conditions on the east cost for a week+- at a time maybe once or twice during the winter.

I know Manitoba and "WINTERPEG" have a reputation for being cold. I also experienced the "DRY COLD OF SASKATCHEWAN" one winter.

Not all birds do well in extreme cold (the majority do). Some do need to be taken indoors for a few days when you notice they are fluffed and lethargic.

I also keep my water above freezing during the day.

The thing I thing I want to stress the most is:

Ground Fault Outlet and heat lamps on a safety chain. Every year a member looses their coop to fire these two safe guards may have prevented it.

I have been raising chickens and birds for decades as I have stated. This is what worked for me extremely well over the course of that time. I respect anyone's opinion that may be different than mine.

I am only stating what has worked well for me.

 

[laurawaylon]

there are radiant heat panels that are much safer than heat lamps. Also... with silkies and such bitter cold, and since you only have 4......maybe make them a cute little roosting nest/box to sleep in, instead of a perch. If you do go with a perch, make it WIDE so their feet can be flat on the perch.

Also give them light, 10 hours is good, so that they have enough time to eat.

Any suggestions on which radiant heat panel would work best? I have made them nesting boxes as well as a perch.

 

[Alaskan]

Any suggestions on which radiant heat panel would work best? I have made them nesting boxes as well as a perch.

sorry, I have no recommendation, I know people in colder parts of Alaska use them...but I don't.

 

[ChristineMac]

Hello, I live in Northern Alberta so I too understand the dilemma of winter time. Our coop is insulated and has windows on three sides so that it can benefit from the warmth of the sun in the winter. I have a sodium light (not greatly energy efficient) on a timer so that the girls get their 16 hours of light per day, a red heat lamp over their roost also on a timer so that it comes on with the onset of dark and shuts off at first light. I also have a milk parlor heater that is hung from the ceiling by a chain operating off a thermacube that comes on when the temperature drops to about 2C and shuts off at 7 I think. Its not hot but the eggs and water don't freeze. Good luck with your winter coop!