picassomcp
Member
Do Chickens need a heat lamp when it gets cold out? I have 2 chicken coops, each with an open door. Each coop has nesting boxes and plenty of spots to roost. The nesting boxes have hay in them. These are 2 year old Rhode Island Red hens, they have free access to each coop.
Last year I hung a heat lamp in the one coop, about a foot above the water dish to keep the water thawed. That didn"t work too well as the water froze anyway. So late last year I just unplugged the heat lamp and all the chickens did fine. This year, I haven"t used a heat light at all. I just put fresh water out each day. The hens look tough!, missing feathers, combs that look frost bitten, etc. I feel kinda bad about this, but I don"t think they got much benefit out of the heat lamp last year, and I don"t wanna run a heat lamp for nothing. I"ve also noticed that most days they don"t leave the coop at all. I figure that with snow on the ground and no bugs, why would they leave the coop?
Do you have heat in your chicken coops?
Last year I hung a heat lamp in the one coop, about a foot above the water dish to keep the water thawed. That didn"t work too well as the water froze anyway. So late last year I just unplugged the heat lamp and all the chickens did fine. This year, I haven"t used a heat light at all. I just put fresh water out each day. The hens look tough!, missing feathers, combs that look frost bitten, etc. I feel kinda bad about this, but I don"t think they got much benefit out of the heat lamp last year, and I don"t wanna run a heat lamp for nothing. I"ve also noticed that most days they don"t leave the coop at all. I figure that with snow on the ground and no bugs, why would they leave the coop?
Do you have heat in your chicken coops?