I need some thoughts....

Jared77

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I'm designing a chicken coop and want to bounce this off some of you folks who have WAAAY more knowledge about this than I do.

Im trying to get away from running electricity out to the coop. I'm afraid of heat lamps shorting out and causing a fire. I'm trying to keep the chickens a bit warm so they are not burning through food to generate enough heat to stay warm, and I don't want the water to freeze in the drinker. I work 24hr shifts (I'm a Paramedic) and my wife works 12s (she's a RN) so it could be 12hrs before we could bust buckets so they have something to drink. And that's if we get off work on time.

I was going to put in a roof vent so the moisture would vent out the top, but I had planned on caulking the seams to keep drafts down and the solar panel would bring warm air in during the day and I hope it would stay warm enough through the evening, even if I had to insulate it. I live in Michigan so our winters are cold and damp both of which I know are chicken killers.

I thought with the vent at the top would pull air in from the panel, and out the top naturally circulating the warm air. I don't want/need to be crazy hot, just warm enough to keep the buckets from freezing as that's my biggest concern.

In the spring I planned on covering the vent holes and taking the solar panel down till I needed it in the fall again.

Thoughts?

I really appreciate your help on this
 

~gd

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SOME HINTS. I used to raise chickens in the western NY snowbelt that comes off the east end of Lake Erie. Snow makes darn good insulation so if you don't get snow that sticks around read the rest of this with a grain of salt. we had two adjoined coops. the old one had a shed roof that was basically a flat roof with only about a 30 degree pitch with the low wall on the west side. The wind would build a drift right up to and over the flat roof. The new coop was built with a peaked roof like a house. The first winter we noticed that the old coop was warmer and that was where the chickens would roost on cold nights, body heat must have been the cause. We also had moisture problems. Which we fixed With small closeable vents under the shed roof and low ones right down above the droping Pit. Cold air would enter there [sheltered taller wall] and rise along that wall to exhaust at the peak.[we also had the same vents on the short wall that were used in summer but would drift over in snow. If we expected estreme cold [below -20F] we would shut some of the top vents.
We found that we placed the waterers on insulated platforms that they didn't freeze, Hanging were the next best, and those set on the ground froze first. I hope this helps but if you don't have snow take other avise over mine. ~gd
 

TheMartianChick

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I'm with ~gd on this one since I'm also in the snowbelt of Central NY. Another option is something that I do when a storm has been forecasted in our area. I bring snow into my chicken coop. They love to eat it. (It's like a novelty to them!) and snow doesn't freeze solid like water does. I still provide water, but the pan of snow ensures that they won't be without a source of water in the event that I cannot get out to them in a blizzard.
 

Jared77

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I don't get that much snow. We get our share of it, but not enough to pile up to insulate with. Im familiar with snow huts and have slept in them I know snows a great insulator. My problem is there are plenty of days with a couple of inches on the ground and we've got standing water that's frozen. From Nov through March typically we can get cold enough temps to freeze. Thats more of my concern. Snow isn't really the issue its freezing water.
 

the funny farm6

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what i am thinking of doing is building a homemade solar box. i think i saw the idea on here, but i recently saw on in working order. it is a box with a glass top, painted black on the inside, with soda cans painted black and a flex vent that goes into your building. the one i saw was simply leaned against their home and was heating a good size room addition. someone here might be able to find a link or explain it better. it would heat a chicken coop easy. heat without electric.
 

so lucky

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Can't some handy person figure out how to put a rechargable battery pack on a heating device to be positioned under a water container? You could have one battery charging while the other is keeping the water thawed. It shouldn't take much heating power.....
 
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