Raising Chicken Without Electricity and Gas

[Carrie216]

Hi Guys, I'm thinking of to raise chicken using kerosene lamps to heat those chicks as the area i plan to breed chicken doesn't have access to electricity and constantly using Gas Heater is too expensive. I'm planning to raise 500chickens in 10ft x 40ft cage. Those chicks will be in the cage for 1month, after that the cage will be opened and they will be in free range mode. Or do you guys have better idea other than using multiple kerosene lamps in the cage to heat chicks? God bless!

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Hi, welcome to BYC!

Wow, I don't think I could keep good enough track of that many birds to make sure most survive. And it sounds scary. But I think that's kinda how they did it back in the old days.

And so my suggestion may not work on large scale, but wool hens are pretty cool. No experience yet with them.

Maybe invest in solar?

I'm always interested in learning new ways. Our power goes out all the time.

 

[Carrie216]

I wanted to install solar panel but after calculating the cost it doesn't worth it. Imagine needing 6 bulbs consuming 100watts each requires around 15 pieces of 280w solar panel and batteries. Hefty amount to invest in which doesn't make sense in my current situation. Sad

 

[Molpet]

here is a kerosene brooder you may get some ideas from https://www.lehmans.com/product/kerosene-powered-chicken-egg-incubator/

and a lamp idea https://anamericanhomestead.com/how-to-brood-chickens-without-electricity/

 

[Ridgerunner]

I suggest you do some research on a hover. That's basically an inverted shallow box that traps heat since warm air rises. That will greatly reduce your heat requirements since it traps the heat. I don't have any great ideas on how to provide the heat without a risk of fire but I'll leave that up to you and others.

I don't know where you are located or the time of year you are considering doing this, but reducing how much heat you need could make many things possible. This may give you a start.

https://web.extension.illinois.edu/hkmw/downloads/46524.pdf

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Yes, we also haven't gone solar. The cost outweighs the benefit to me at this point. Anything that takes 10 or more years before I see savings means nothing to me... I might be dead by then.

I have seen that upside down box that ridgerunner mentioned used on very large broods and was also thinking about it yesterday but didn't know what to call it. Definitely worth looking into.