Baby Chick Flying on Top of Heat Lamp

Exercise your chickens wear sweaters?

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

But it brings u.s. to an important topic– how exactly does one go along a craven warm in the winter? Do chickens need 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 manifestly were also, right?;

There'due south actually a bit of debate surrounding the whole topic of chickens and rut lamps (non a surprise, considering there seems to be debate surrounding everything these days…), so let'south look at this a bit closer.

Why practise People Use Heat Lamps for Chickens?

Virtually people follow the same thought pattern I did: If I'm cold, my chickens must exist cold as well. Beingness the kind-hearted homesteaders we are, we want to make our animals as comfortable every bit possible. This usually ways installing a estrus lamp or 2 to provide extra warmth on those chilly days.

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

Just as I did more research and fabricated more observations, I started to question every bit to whether this was actually correct…

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

First off, thinking an creature must exist cold, just because we are common cold, is a faulty assumption.

Chickens have feathers. Cows and goats have layers of wintertime pilus. We don't. Most all animals are designed to withstand atmospheric condition conditions without any help from usa humans. It tin can be difficult for us to accept, but it's true.

The biggest problem surrounding heat lamps?

They are extreme burn down hazards. Like large time.

Anytime yous stick a 250-watt heat source in an surface area with a lot of dry out, flammable cloth (i.e. feathers, dust, wood shavings, etc), y'all take a potential take chances. And craven coop fires practice happen, with devastating results.

Simply here'due south the interesting role:

(Are you gear up for this?)

Most of the time, chickens don't really need heat lamps anyway.

Shocking, I know.

Most craven-care experts will concur– your average dual-purpose chicken brood will do simply fine without any supplemental heating, every bit long as they have a mode to stay dry and out of the current of air.

(If yous're brooding chicks, things are a trivial bit different, since chicks demand supplemental heat until they mature– unless you have a mama hen, of course. Read more most chick brooders here.)

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

My Rut 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 40 degrees below zero.)

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

On a particularly cold day (I'thou talking 40 beneath zilch here…), I turned on the rut lamps over the roosting areas (the lamps are bolted into the wall and very secure, although even so not entirely without fire chance). After it got nighttime, I popped in to cheque the chickens over again 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 as possible. They besides seemed rather annoyed, every bit they were bedded down on the floor, instead of on their cozy roosts.

The next twenty-four hours, I left the heat lamps off, and once again returned to the coop at nighttime. All the chickens were happily sitting on their roosts, just like normal. Information technology suspiciously seemed they were avoiding the oestrus lamps–even on a subzero mean solar day.

Too, during our most severe cold snap this year, one chicken went missing. I looked aaaaaalllllll over for her with no luck, and finally assumed she must have concluded up being fox food. There was no trace of her, and with the extreme temperatures at night, I figured she was toast anyhow. It was way also common cold for a craven to survive exterior, correct?

Incorrect.

Several days after the worse of the cold snap lifted, I found her happily strutting around the barn one thousand– no frostbite, equally happy as she could be.

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

I'one thousand not saying this is an ideal scenario, but yet………

What We're Doing Instead of Using Heat Lamps

So, do chickens need a heat lamp? I'm officially convinced heat lamps aren't as vital as I idea they were… However, there are nonetheless a few things I'g doing to ensure my flock stays comfy and safe during the winter months:

• Ventilate information technology! Ventilation is HUGE. If you lot want to focus on 1 thing in regards to chicken-keeping, let information technology be ventilation. According to proficient flockster Harvey Ussery, as long every bit the chickens are sheltered from direct wind and pelting, "a coop cannot have likewise much ventilation." Allow that sink in for a minute– wow! A damp, moist coop tin breed pathogens, crusade respiratory problems, and make your birds more susceptible to frostbite. While drafts are bad (a draft equals a direct wind blowing on the birds), in that location should be plenty of air exchange happening in the coop at all times. For us, this ways I leave our coop doors open in all merely the well-nigh farthermost temps. I might close the doors at night when it reaches 30 to xl below zero, but otherwise, they stay open. An air-tight coop is NOT a skillful thing.
• Provide lots of fresh water – Keeping your chicken's water liquid in the winter can be tough, but it's vitally important. Either commit to hauling buckets of fresh water to your birds several times per day, or invest in a heated water bucket (that'southward what we do).
• Keep food in front of them – The process of digestion creates rut and keeps chickens warm. Make certain your flock has plenty of food to munch on. You can create special treats for winter if y'all like, (like this bootleg flock block), but they aren't entirely necessary. Just your regular ration is more sufficient.
• Looking for more than wintertime craven tips? This mail service has the full scoop.

To sum it all up? Watch your birds and create a plan that works for your climate and set-upward. Remember chickens aren't human, and have different ways of dealing with temperature shifts than we do. If knitting chicken sweaters is your thing, that's totally absurd by me– simply know information technology'due south not a necessity. 😉 Do you use heat lamps for your chickens?

Other Chicken Posts

• Should I Wash My Fresh Eggs?
• Supplemental Lighting in the Chicken Coop
• How to Cook an One-time Rooster or Hen
• How to Peel Farm-Fresh Eggs (without making a mess)
• What are the Brown Spots in My Fresh Eggs?

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

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

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