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Does a chicken coop need a heat lamp or a heater? It depends on a few factors.
I tell you what you need to consider and let you know what I have done over the last 45 years keeping chickens.
What I am using this winter:
https://chickcozy.com/tfl
Enter the ChickCozy Discount Code to save some money:
thefarmerslamp
For more information read the whole article:
https://www.thefarmerslamp.com/should-you-have-a-chicken-coop-heater/
How to Prepare Chickens for Winter -
https://www.thefarmerslamp.com/your-chickens-and-winter/
What You Should Know Before Building a Chicken Coop - https://www.thefarmerslamp.com/building-a-chicken-coop/
Why and How to Ferment Chicken Feed -
https://www.thefarmerslamp.com/why-and-how-to-ferment-chicken-feed/
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0:00
Does my chicken coop need a heat lamp
0:03
My family's been keeping chickens for at least four generations. And in my 45 plus years of keeping chickens myself, I get asked this question a lot
0:13
And I know there are a lot of people out there who say yes or no and they're very dogmatic about their answer
0:19
And I respect that. But this is not a simple yes or no question
0:24
There are a lot of factors that go into you determining what's best for you and your flock
0:29
Let's start with one. The breed selection. Are they a winter hearty breed
0:34
How big are they? There are just certain breeds that do better in colder climates
0:40
So if you want to learn more about that, we have a chicken book that you can go and buy and look at it
0:46
It breaks down the breeds for you. They're egg laying. There's all kinds of information in there that will help you
0:50
Choose the right breed for your homestead. Your coop setup. This is probably the most important factor
0:57
You have the bedding. your choice of bedding. Three, six inches of bedding is good in most every climate
1:05
Less and warmer climates and more in colder climates. Your roost setup
1:11
How close are the birds? Do they have enough space? Do they have too much space
1:15
Your ventilation. Now, your ventilation, I've heard someone say a couple of weeks ago
1:21
of that your birds need air flow. No, your birds do not need air flowing over
1:28
them. The cold winds causes them more damage than the cold temperature. They need
1:35
ventilation in the roof of their coop so that the gases and the moisture can escape. You
1:41
want to get the moisture level in your coop down as much as you can and proper
1:45
ventilation does that for you. Your flock size, how big is your flock? How many
1:52
square feet per bird does your flock need? The amount of space that each bird requires
1:58
depends again on other factors and we have an article on the farmer lamp about chicken coop and building your chicken coop and it help you break down exactly what you need If your flock is free during the day or they kept confined to the coop or to a small yard or to a run
2:16
all of these things come together to give you the answer for what's best for you and your flock
2:22
Another factor is the quality of feed. In the wintertime, we ferment our chicken feed
2:26
Fermenting the chicken feed breaks down, starts breaking down the food for them, so the nutrients are more readily available for them
2:35
And the more quickly they can be digesting and absorbing those nutrients, the digestion warms them up in the process
2:42
Your weather conditions, you're climbing. Do you get a lot of rain? Do you get a lot of snow? A lot of ice
2:48
Are your temperatures really extreme? Like this morning, it was 17 here and today
2:53
In the afternoon at 68. So, you know, that's a pretty wide rain. there so you need to consider all those things now I know that some people will say
3:02
and I've heard them say it if you use a heat source in your chicken coop your
3:07
chickens will get acclimated to that and they will not be able to regulate their
3:11
own body heat that would take a very specific set of wrong circumstances to come
3:18
together for that to happen they would have to be confined in the coop exposed to the
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heat source 24-7 for weeks or days on end before they would even begin to have a problem. We turn our heat lamp on
3:35
at night or whatever heat source we're going to use. We turn it on at night and we turn it off
3:41
in the morning. Now, we traditionally in the past, we've always used a red heat bulb. This year
3:47
we're doing something different and we'll talk about that in a minute. After your chickens have
3:53
been wet or cold or supposed to ice, winds, snow, like ours are, you want them to have a warm
4:02
place to get into so that they can dry and won get frostbite If your chickens are not a cold hearty breed again that goes back to breed selection for your homestead See this is all personal The health of your flock if you have a sick bird you going to want that bird to have some heat to take that stress off of their body so that you can help them heal
4:22
You can give their body what they need for healing. So you've decided that you want to add a heat source to your chicken coop
4:29
What are your options? We talked about the red heat lamp. Never, ever, ever use a white, light
4:36
in your chicken coop. The white light disrupts their circadian rhythms. It keeps them up at night
4:42
which can cause digestion and other health issues. We have some health articles on the farmers lamp for
4:48
your flocks that can help you with those things. It interferes with their egg laying process
4:53
Their natural rhythms are disrupted by that white light. So always use a red heat lamp if that's what
4:59
you decide to do. Some people use a heat mat. I've never used a heat mat. We have a
5:06
deep litter in our coop. And so we've never been comfortable with the idea of a heat source laying on that
5:14
Some people do, and if you want to do that, you can research and decide if that's right for
5:19
you or not. What we're going to be doing is using the Chick Cozy Chicken Coop heater
5:25
That's a little bit of a mouthful. But we were asked to buy them to try their product, and we have been really impressed
5:31
with it. Oh, it's got a remote. very clear instructions once again
5:40
all the hardware you need and the heater itself we're very interested to try this
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oh nice we'll get it installed and we'll walk into the process
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This is the Chip Cozy chicken coop heater. It a radiant heat heater and we really like that There nothing exposed When it on you can even at its highest level you can even touch it Radiant heat does not heat the air It heats the wood the insulation all the objects in the coop
6:26
And so that keeps the chickens from getting from. You can turn it on here or what I really like is this little handy remote
6:34
You can turn it on with the remote. Now, I know that says 122 degrees, but remember
6:42
That's not like what we've got in our house. Your coop is not going to be 122 degrees because it's radiant heat
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You can turn it up or down with the remote. We really like it
6:54
There's nothing exposed. Be sure. Our next part of what we're doing is we're going to secure the electrical line
7:01
Be sure that your cord is up out of the way where your chickens won't be tempted to peck on it
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because they're very curious creatures. And so they will pick on it
7:10
What we like about the Chick Cozy chicken coop heater is its safety features
7:15
It's radiant heat, so that means it's not heating the air. It's heating the roost
7:20
It's heating the nest. It's heating the walls and the insulation. Radiant heat then comes off of those objects to prevent frostbite
7:30
One thing we really like about it that we weren't expecting is that it helps keep our water from freezing
7:35
It has a tip over protection. If it even just 180 degrees, it goes off
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There's nothing exposed to it, as you saw in the pictures. The surface of it is flat
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There's no heat source that's exposed to the head, to the bedding, or to the bird
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It's energy efficient. You can turn the temperature up or down, depending on the time of day or maybe even the weather for that week
8:00
So that's why we're going to be using the Chick Cozy Chicken Coop heater
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And we would recommend it to you. If you decide that a heat source is something you
8:10
you want to provide for your flock. The decision is yours. We just want to give you the information
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and let you make an educated decision. Until next time, safe and happy journey
#Home & Garden
#Home Improvement
#Pets & Animals
#Heaters