Best buys on Industrial heaters for farm, barns, chicken coops, hen houses, garages, sheds, and construction sites. When considering a heat source for your coop, you need to consider the cost to set up and run heat as well as how to use heat sources safely. Before adding heat to your chicken coop or poultry house be sure to take appropriate safety measures.
Best wood heat for large well ventilated coops: I used an old trailer house for a chicken coop, tore out all the interior walls and covered the paneling with plywood and sheets of tin. Then I put a large box wood stove up on haddock blocks with a heat resistant shield on the floor under the wood stove and on the wall behind it. I was able to load the stove in the morning and again before bedtime and the coals would keep it warm enough that the birds never got frost bite and my hens never stopped laying eggs in the winter. There was enough room to house 200 chickens in a 3 bedroom trailer house comfortably. I built roosts along the walls and put nest boxes up. I use deep litter in the winter and only allowed the birds outdoors through a chicken coop door on the South side of the coop when temps were well above freezing so the coop would stay warmer. During winter I used hay as bedding but not in the room where the box stove was. I put fencing floor to ceiling and a screen door between the stove and the rest of the room so birds would not jump on the box stove and burn their feet or worse jump on the chimney and knock it loose but would allow me to bring wood in easily.
How I kept my chickens and livestock warm without heat in Wisconsin: I lived in Wisconsin where temps would drop below zero and was able to maintain warmth above freezing in it without a heater. I had a barn where I never needed to use a heater and my cows and chickens never got frostbite and laid eggs year round. I filled floor to ceiling with hay bales on all sides and put the chickens on one side of the barn sectioned off from my livestock and used hay and pine shavings for deep bedding.
- Ventilation: Make sure you have proper ventilation as built up non composted chicken feces and dander from chicken feathers can cause respiratory problems in your birds and other health problems. Don't put ventilation on the North side of your coop as this will allow the cold North winds to blow into your coop.
- Heat lamp safety: Never put a heat lamp or other heat source near flammable materials such as hay, pine bedding or nest boxes or in a place where birds can perch on it or kick bedding onto it. If you decide to use heat lamps make sure you put them in a metal cage with a metal bottom and secure the heat lamp in the cage and secure the cage high enough that they cannot get on top of it. Never trust the brackets that come with them as they tend to loosen up and have been known to fall and cause coop fires.
- Distance: Make sure the heat source is at least 3 feet from anything flammable.
- Fire alarms: If you use a heater in your coop you should also use a fire alarm to alert you in case of smoldering wires, bedding or fire.
- Use Thermocubes: Use thermocubes or other extensions which shut off electrical appliances if cords are getting too hot.
Best wood heat for large well ventilated coops: I used an old trailer house for a chicken coop, tore out all the interior walls and covered the paneling with plywood and sheets of tin. Then I put a large box wood stove up on haddock blocks with a heat resistant shield on the floor under the wood stove and on the wall behind it. I was able to load the stove in the morning and again before bedtime and the coals would keep it warm enough that the birds never got frost bite and my hens never stopped laying eggs in the winter. There was enough room to house 200 chickens in a 3 bedroom trailer house comfortably. I built roosts along the walls and put nest boxes up. I use deep litter in the winter and only allowed the birds outdoors through a chicken coop door on the South side of the coop when temps were well above freezing so the coop would stay warmer. During winter I used hay as bedding but not in the room where the box stove was. I put fencing floor to ceiling and a screen door between the stove and the rest of the room so birds would not jump on the box stove and burn their feet or worse jump on the chimney and knock it loose but would allow me to bring wood in easily.
- Important Note:Don't use gas, fuel or propane heat as the fumes can quickly suffocate your chickens, causing birds to start gasping for air and die.
How I kept my chickens and livestock warm without heat in Wisconsin: I lived in Wisconsin where temps would drop below zero and was able to maintain warmth above freezing in it without a heater. I had a barn where I never needed to use a heater and my cows and chickens never got frostbite and laid eggs year round. I filled floor to ceiling with hay bales on all sides and put the chickens on one side of the barn sectioned off from my livestock and used hay and pine shavings for deep bedding.
Warning! If you have chickens and are thinking of using propane, gas, or kerosene to heat your hen house please read this!
If you have chickens it is not advisable to use propane, gas, kerosene, or other combustible heat liquids that emit toxic fumes as these fumes are often deadly for poultry when used in poorly ventilated or confined spaces.
See best chicken coop heaters below.
See best chicken coop heaters below.
More About Keeping Chickens Warm |
Memory Verse: The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. Mark 10: 45
