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
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