How To Install A Heat Lamp In A Chicken Coop

Do your chickens habiliment sweaters?

Mine don't, although I have to admit the pictures I've seen of sweatered hens are pretty cute. Alas, knitting is one area where my craftiness fails me, so I don't meet myself creating outerwear for my flock anytime before long.

But information technology brings us to an important topic– how exactly does ane keep a chicken warm in the winter? Do chickens demand a heat lamp?

When I start got my chickens, I causeless they needed supplemental heat anytime the thermometer dipped below freezing. I mean, I was cold, so they obviously were too, right?;

There's actually a chip of fence surrounding the whole topic of chickens and heat lamps (not a surprise, because in that location seems to exist fence surrounding everything these days…), and so let'due south look at this a bit closer.

Why do People Use Estrus Lamps for Chickens?

Most people follow the aforementioned thought blueprint I did: If I'm cold, my chickens must be cold too. Being the kind-hearted homesteaders we are, we desire to make our animals as comfortable equally possible. This commonly means installing a oestrus lamp or 2 to provide extra warmth on those dank days.

I did this for a while, more often than not because I causeless it was the "correct" affair to practice–especially considering we homestead in Wyoming where information technology's freeeezing cold during the wintertime months.

But equally I did more than research and made more than observations, I started to question every bit to whether this was actually correct…

Do Chickens Need a Heat Lamp? Why Oestrus Lamps can be a Problem:

First off, thinking an animal must exist cold, only because we are cold, is a faulty assumption.

Chickens take feathers. Cows and goats have layers of winter hair. Nosotros don't. Most all animals are designed to withstand weather atmospheric condition without any help from us humans. It tin can be hard for us to accept, but information technology's true.

The biggest trouble surrounding rut lamps?

They are farthermost burn down hazards. Like big time.

Anytime y'all stick a 250-watt heat source in an area with a lot of dry, combustible material (i.eastward. feathers, grit, forest shavings, etc), you have a potential take a chance. And craven coop fires do happen, with devastating results.

But here'southward the interesting part:

(Are y'all set up for this?)

Most of the fourth dimension, chickens don't actually need rut lamps anyway.

Shocking, I know.

Nearly chicken-care experts volition agree– your average dual-purpose chicken brood will do just fine without whatever supplemental heating, as long as they take a way to stay dry out and out of the wind.

(If you're brooding chicks, things are a little chip different, since chicks need supplemental heat until they mature– unless yous have a mama hen, of grade. Read more about chick brooders here.)

OK– I confess. For a while, I was a flake skeptical of this advice… That is, until I started paying more attention to what was happening in my own coop…

My Oestrus Lamps Observations

I've been gradually weaning myself off heat lamp dependency, but I still felt inclined to plow the lamps on during the coldest nights (especially this winter, as we've had several cold snaps of 30 to forty degrees below zero.)

However, what I observed during the last cold snap has officially changed my mind:

On a particularly common cold day (I'1000 talking 40 below zero here…), I turned on the rut lamps over the roosting areas (the lamps are bolted into the wall and very secure, although however non entirely without fire risk). After it got dark, I popped in to check the chickens one time more than before nosotros headed to bed. Much to my surprise, they were all crowded in the other department of the coop– as far away from the heat lamps every bit possible. They besides seemed rather annoyed, as they were bedded down on the floor, instead of on their cozy roosts.

The next day, I left the rut lamps off, and once once more returned to the coop at dark. All the chickens were happily sitting on their roosts, just like normal. It suspiciously seemed they were avoiding the estrus lamps–even on a subzero day.

Also, during our nigh severe common cold snap this twelvemonth, 1 chicken went missing. I looked aaaaaalllllll over for her with no luck, and finally causeless she must have concluded upward beingness pull a fast one on nutrient. At that place was no trace of her, and with the farthermost temperatures at dark, I figured she was toast anyhow. Information technology was way too cold for a chicken to survive outside, right?

Wrong.

Several days afterward the worse of the cold snap lifted, I found her happily strutting around the befouled chiliad– no frostbite, as happy as she could be.

She had survived several days/nights of -40 degree temperatures without a heat lamp, craven coop, or any help from me. (I suspect she must have been hiding out in our open equipment shed, but it'southward hard to say for certain…)

I'm non saying this is an platonic scenario, but still………

What Nosotros're Doing Instead of Using Estrus Lamps

So, do chickens need a rut lamp? I'm officially convinced rut lamps aren't as vital as I idea they were… Yet, in that location are still a few things I'm doing to ensure my flock stays comfy and safe during the wintertime months:

• Ventilate it! Ventilation is HUGE. If you desire to focus on i matter in regards to chicken-keeping, let it be ventilation. According to skilful flockster Harvey Ussery, equally long as the chickens are sheltered from direct wind and rain, "a coop cannot have too much ventilation." Let that sink in for a minute– wow! A damp, moist coop tin breed pathogens, cause respiratory issues, and make your birds more susceptible to frostbite. While drafts are bad (a typhoon equals a direct wind blowing on the birds), there should be enough of air substitution happening in the coop at all times. For us, this means I leave our coop doors open in all simply the well-nigh extreme temps. I might close the doors at night when information technology reaches 30 to forty beneath zero, only otherwise, they stay open up. An air-tight coop is NOT a adept thing.
• Provide lots of fresh water – Keeping your chicken'south water liquid in the wintertime tin be tough, but information technology'due south vitally important. Either commit to hauling buckets of fresh water to your birds several times per mean solar day, or invest in a heated water bucket (that's what we do).
• Go on nutrient in front of them – The process of digestion creates heat and keeps chickens warm. Make sure your flock has plenty of nutrient to munch on. You tin can create special treats for winter if you like, (like this bootleg flock cake), just they aren't entirely necessary. Just your regular ration is more than than sufficient.
• Looking for more wintertime chicken tips? This post has the full scoop.

To sum it all up? Lookout man your birds and create a programme that works for your climate and set-upward. Remember chickens aren't human, and have unlike ways of dealing with temperature shifts than we do. If knitting craven sweaters is your thing, that's totally cool past me– just know information technology'south not a necessity. 😉 Practice you lot use rut lamps for your chickens?

Other Chicken Posts

• Should I Launder My Fresh Eggs?
• Supplemental Lighting in the Chicken Coop
• How to Melt an Old Rooster or Hen
• How to Pare Subcontract-Fresh Eggs (without making a mess)
• What are the Chocolate-brown Spots in My Fresh Eggs?

Heed to the Sometime Fashioned On Purpose podcast episode #61 on this topic HERE.

Your Garden's Best Kept Secret!

Boost your garden soil's health and fertility with my Embrace Crop Guide! It'due south included every bit a role of my Costless digital homestead library. Enter your best email for instant access! >>

Source: https://www.theprairiehomestead.com/2015/01/chickens-need-heat-lamp.html

Posted by: dubreuilnortur41.blogspot.com

Share this post