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I was thinking about buying one of these for my ladies, and running it on a timer switch for a couple of hours during the night for my chickens. Does anyone know if they are expensive to run please, as I have no idea?
I have a massive house 5ftx4ft with only 5 chickens in it, and I am a bit worried about them dying.
thanks Nikki

thesunflowergal wrote:I was thinking about buying one of these for my ladies, and running it on a timer switch for a couple of hours during the night for my chickens. Does anyone know if they are expensive to run please, as I have no idea?
I have a massive house 5ftx4ft with only 5 chickens in it, and I am a bit worried about them dying.
thanks Nikki

I've jusrt done a quick search on Google and this site came up http://wheatcroftpoultry.co.uk/products ... 4QodTUrPCQ

On there they have 150watt bulbs and 250 watt bulbs so for them it will cost 1000w / 150 X your electric unit cost. The same with the 250 w bulb.

If your electric costs is 9p per KWh unit then your bulb will cost about 1.35pence per hour to run( 150 w) or 2.25p per hour to run for the 250w bulb)

At least that's what i think it is unless someone else knows better.

Thanks Big Al, that sounds ok. This is the lamp I was looking at:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Heat-Animals-En ... pd_cp_ce_1

In all honesty,I've never had poultry die of the cold.They roost close together to keep warm,and so long as you keep the floor of their roost clean with straw,sawdust or whatever they should be fine.(I always use wooden sheds)Give them a sheet of corrugated or similar outside to protect againsty the prevailng wind.They may loose a bit of condition in the winter,.......but who doesn't??

My ex-batts were in a wooden box with a door that they didn't like shut, all over the last two winters and they were fine. Your house is lovely and dry and no draughts so they'll be fine. They might lay more if you put a heat lamp in but it really isn't necessary for their survival. If you do, make sure they can't reach it or the cable or they'll try to eat it.

Zoe

Agree with the other posters, our chucks never needed any additional heat, they're really hardy little things.

I bought one of these lamps to raise chicks but have never thought about using it for the chickens fully grown - I do however chuck an old duvet over the house during cold spells but as people have said above they do huddle pretty well. I'm just a bit tired of collecting their water every night and preventing the water from freezing over!

plus chooks are insulated with feathers which trap air to keep them warm we use down coats and down duvets to keep warm they will be the warmest of warm i got a house chook well she lives in the out house bit we go out to let the dog out and she is up on the cupboards plumped up nice and toasty in the cold enviroment .

My 9hens dont have any heat in there house, but im thinking of putting a roof over the top of the run as its getting a bit of a swamp down there now. and the O/H is not happy as ahe has to put them away most nights ...

What do you use on the ground, i put shavings and paper shreds in the house any sugestions for the run ??

I have 14 laying hens, 2 cockrels & 4 ducks in an 8 x 6 wooden garden shed with a rn built on which measures 9ft x 9ft.. as ive only got the birds a few days i am worried that this maybe too small (altough temperary till nxt feb). Also we curently have around 6 - 8 inches of snow and still coming thick and fast...
The shed is well sheltered in my back garden but the run unfortunatley isnt and therefore covered in snow...
Ive been closing the door at night for 2 resons.. 1. for security/peace of mind & 2 to try and make the shed a bit warmer in this cold weather (bbbrrrrrrrrr)...
i was also thinking of a heater or lamp to keep them warm as i didnt like the taught of finding 20 frozen birds one morning...
but from reading above it seem they will be warm enough... and they all huddle together at night even the ducks... only problem sofar is they are reluctan to come out into the snow to feed so ive put some sheeting down each time and removed it after to stop being covered in snow....
As a complete novice am i doing the rite things???

I have 14 laying hens, 2 cockrels & 4 ducks in an 8 x 6 wooden garden shed with a rn built on which measures 9ft x 9ft.. as ive only got the birds a few days i am worried that this maybe too small (altough temperary till nxt feb). Also we curently have around 6 - 8 inches of snow and still coming thick and fast...
The shed is well sheltered in my back garden but the run unfortunatley isnt and therefore covered in snow...
Ive been closing the door at night for 2 resons.. 1. for security/peace of mind & 2 to try and make the shed a bit warmer in this cold weather (bbbrrrrrrrrr)...
i was also thinking of a heater or lamp to keep them warm as i didnt like the taught of finding 20 frozen birds one morning...
but from reading above it seem they will be warm enough... and they all huddle together at night even the ducks... only problem sofar is they are reluctan to come out into the snow to feed so ive put some sheeting down each time and removed it after to stop being covered in snow....
As a complete novice am i doing the rite things???

Your shed/run is big enough,especially in the snow(as you've found they wont go out much).In the spring you could make it a bit bigger,depends how much space you have got.Long term,if you have the space,to save the ground from being poached,it's worth thinking about maybe 2 connected runs(use one for a month or two then switch to the next) with a bit of clever fencing you could make them both accesible from the same shed.Or go the whole way and make a house plus run that all moves together(easier than it sounds).Good luck...and ALWAYS shut them in as it gets dark.

I think the idea of having 2 runs is a good one, and we always intended doing that, but before we knew it we had bought the ladies and they had almost all of the garden . After a while we got sick of 3 little chickens having more outdoor space than us humans so we moved the fence back gradually and reclaimed a big chunk of our little garden. Now I think their run is a nice size for them, but we never got around to halving it, and if we do, I think their run area will be a bit on the small side. I don't care about the complete lack of grass in there, and I give the ladies things like cauliflower leaves to keep them happy, but I worry that we might develop a problem with bacteria. Since getting the chickens last February I have been cleaning the poo out of their house and scooping it up from their run daily, until this spell of freezing weather. Now I mix the poo in their house with a thick layer of straw and change it weekly, and I can't budge the stuff from their run because it's frozen onto the floor. We had a thaw not long ago and I ran out to clean it all up only to find that the ground had become so mushy it had been trampled in. Now it's frozen again. I hope you will tell me I'm worrying for nothing, but if not, I would prefer to know sooner rather than later.