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With the arrival of truly cold weather, providing heat and heating chicken coop in winter becomes a condition for the survival of the entire poultry population. Despite its good adaptation to weather changes, chicken is susceptible to colds and infectious diseases, like any domestic animal, so heating in a chicken coop in winter becomes a serious problem.
How to keep heat in a chicken coop
In addition to lining the chicken coop with highly effective polymer or mineral-based insulation, the normal temperature inside the chicken apartments can be maintained in three ways:
- Installation of a heater;
- Use heat from a residential building for heating;
- Use chemical or additional heat sources.
A temperature of 15-17 can be called comfortableOC. In this case, it will be necessary to simultaneously ensure a normal flow of fresh air and humidity in the chicken coop at a level of no more than 60%.
Traditional heating options
The simplest popular way to organize heating of a chicken coop is the correct location of the room relative to the residential building. Most often, the chicken coop was built on the side where the stove was located, so that the heat from the wall warmed up the room with the birds. Thus, the problem of how to heat a chicken coop in winter, even in the most severe frosts, was solved quite simply and without electricity.
The second popular method of heating a poultry room is the use of decomposing chicken manure with sawdust. But such a heater often leads to massive death of birds in the chicken coop by the released gases, so today it can only be found in greenhouses and for maintaining artificial myceliums.
What is more profitable for heating – electricity or fuel?
Any heating options using alternative energy sources can only maintain the heat in the chicken room at an acceptable level, provided that the outside air temperature is not lower than -10OC. In more severe frosts, the problem of how to heat a chicken coop can be solved either by installing an electric heater in the room or a fossil fuel stove. Heat pipes and solar heaters in these conditions will be so expensive that their purchase and installation will cost three times more than the chicken coop itself with chickens in addition.
Electric heating systems
Electric wall convectors are considered the most voracious. The principle of their operation is reminiscent of a regular fireplace: most of the heated air rises to the ceiling, and the lower layers, which are fundamentally important for the chicken tribe, remain cold. The difference in air temperature can reach 6-8OWITH.So, even after paying almost two thousand rubles a month, there is still a risk of underheating the chicken coop premises by using an inappropriate heating method.
In second place are infrared heaters installed in the ceiling of the room. Unlike previous models, infrared heating devices can provide a number of additional benefits:
- Heating of space, air and objects occurs in the lower tier of the chicken coop, energy is distributed more rationally.
- The location of the heating element is absolutely safe for birds.
- Thermal radiation sterilizes and dries the condensation film and litter, improving the sanitary condition of the chicken coop.
A heater power of 600 W is enough to heat an insulated chicken coop space 5-6 m2. Typically, a two-position heater with a thermostat is used for heating, having two heating modes - 600 W and 1200 W. In this case, you have to regulate the heating of the poultry room yourself using a manual thermostat.
If possible, it is better to choose a more modern model that allows you to smoothly change the load and level of heating of the room based on a signal from an external air temperature sensor.
Farmers and summer residents who raise poultry for sale prefer to choose a programmable, energy-saving heater that can provide heating for the chicken coop depending on the time of day. Due to the correctly selected mode, energy savings can be up to 60%. Which heater option to choose for heating depends on the size and characteristics of the particular chicken coop room.
The disadvantages of an infrared heater include high energy consumption and burning of oxygen in the room atmosphere. In addition, if most of the interior trim, perch and floor are made of wood, if overheated, the wooden surface will dry out and crack over time. The best way to protect the wood from “burning out” is to cover the wood with two layers of transparent oil varnish.
In third place are infrared lamps. The principle of operation of the lamp is in many ways similar to that of an infrared heater, but is less efficient due to the harsher radiation that is scattered throughout the room. Heating with a lamp is most often used in rooms for young animals and the children's section of the chicken coop, where, in addition to heating, it is important to use the disinfecting properties of the lamp.
For heating 5-7 m2 indoors, a standard “red” lamp IKZK215 with a mirror reflector is usually used. In theory, the service life of such a heater is designed for 5000 hours, but in practice it lasts for one season.
The most exotic option for heating a chicken coop room are electric film heaters, widely used for arranging heated floors. In this case, the heater is placed on a heat-insulating mat, and the heating surface is covered with a wooden board impregnated with a varnish composition.
Film heaters can be laid on walls and even on the ceiling, but the most effective heating will be by installing the heating part on the floor of the chicken coop.
Of all the listed heating options, a film heater can be called the most economical and energy-efficient system; electricity consumption will be reduced by 15-20% compared to infrared heating.
Fossil fuel stoves and heaters
It is not always possible to choose exactly how to heat the chicken coop in winter. For example, at a summer cottage or in a country house in winter, the electricity may be turned off several times a week, which can lead to the death of the bird.
In this case, stone stoves are used for heating, built on the outside of the chicken coop wall in a separate room. The stove has a massive heating shield made of brick, which serves as one of the walls of the chicken coop. At night the room is heated to a high temperature, a small amount of coal is placed in the firebox, and until midnight it will be +17 in the chicken coopOC. Further, heating is carried out due to the heat accumulated in the brickwork.
A self-heating oven using used motor oil is considered safer and easier to manufacture. But the apparatus itself is not placed inside the chicken coop for fire safety reasons. The room is heated using a large water tank or a two-hundred-liter barrel filled with water. A steel pipe bent with an elbow is installed inside the barrel, through which flue gases and oil combustion products from the stove are directed into the chimney.
For heating, 1.5-2 liters of waste are filled into the furnace tank, which is enough for a couple of hours of operation. During this time, the water in the barrel warms up to a high temperature. When the fuel supply runs out, the chicken coop is heated using the heat accumulated in the water.
Conclusion
Often homemade thermal panels made from steel or aluminum pipes are added to stationary furnaces and heaters using electricity or fossil fuels. Such a system, installed on the roof of the chicken coop, can reduce energy consumption for heating during the daytime by 70-80%.
