Are you looking for a safe way to heat your chicken coop this winter?
For years, we looked for a safe alternative to a heat lamp to bring the temperature of our coop up a few degrees on extremely cold nights. We were so excited to finally discover the Chick Cozy Coop Heater which is the perfect solution to our winter care in the chicken coop.
Below you can see our first hand experience using the chick cozy coop heater and general information on using the coop heater, installing the chick cozy coop heater and how it has worked in our coop. This is our top recommendation for a heater for chickens based on using it in our coop.
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Contents
Overview of the Chick Cozy Coop Heater
The Chick cozy coop heater is a radiant panel heater meant to raise the temperature of a chicken coop during the cold winter months. The panel heater is meant as a safe alternative to a heat lamp that poses a serious risk of fire.
The coop heater can be mounted to a wall in your coop or can be left free standing. The coop heater comes with many safety features and can be remote operated.
We installed this coop heater in our coop as a heat source on extremely cold nights in our chicken coop that is about 8 x 10 feet. This heater does not heat our coop to a warm temperature, what it does do is warm the coop enough to take off the extreme cold when temperatures drop below 10 degrees here in New Hampshire. This heater gives us peace of mind on extreme nights.
Scroll down for complete details on the chick cozy coop heater.
Do Chickens Need Heat in the Winter?
If you are reading this for a review of the Chick Cozy coop heater (in our opinion, the best heater for chickens), you’ve likely already decided that you want to heat your coop. This is one of those hot topics in the chicken keeping world and you will find many strong opinions.
We tend to take a moderate view of heating the chicken coop at the Backyard Farming Connection after raising chickens for well over a decade in upstate NY and NH. After years of research and experience we know how cold hardy chickens are.
The first step to keeping your chickens warm in winter is to ensure proper housing. Chicken coops should be well insulated with adequate air circulation. For many people this is all they will need to keep their chickens warm.
We like to keep a safe chicken coop heater on hand for extreme weather (below 0 degrees) or sudden and drastic decreases in temperature. During cold spells we have had chickens get minor frostbite and feel that having a safe coop heater allows us to bring the temperatures up a small amount to protect against frostbite and keep our chickens comfortable. You exact comfort level will depend on many factors.
Read more about whether chickens need heat in the winter.
- * While we think having a chicken coop heater for specific situations is helpful, we don’t recommend heating your coop all the time or using red heat lamps as they pose significant fire risk.
Our Experience Installing the Chick Cozy Coop Heater
Installing the coop heater takes under 10 minutes.
The heater comes in a box with the heater itself, feet for standing it up, screws for installing the heater, a remote control and clear, easy to follow directions. From opening the box to installing the coop heater in the coop it took about 10 minutes.
The first thing to consider is where you plan to put your coop heater. If your coop is small, you will need to ensure that there is space in the coop for chickens to get away from the heat if they prefer. In our larger coop, we placed the coop heater for chickens under one end of our roosting posts. This meant that the chickens would receive some of the heat during the nights.
We wall mounted our coop heater by drilling two screws into one side of the coop. The panel heater for chickens simply hangs on these two screws which means I can easily take the heater on and off of the wall in seconds.
The heater needs to be plugged into an energy source.
You can also leave your heater free-standing using the feet that come with the heater. If the heater tips over, it automatically turns off the heater.
Using the Chick Cost Heater for Chickens
There are many ways to use the coop heater depending on your exact set up and where you live. If you are living in Alaska with extremely cold temperatures, you may need to heat your coop every night. For most people they will only be heating their coop on extreme nights.
You can easily do this by either manually turning on and off the heater or using the remote control. Since this is a radiant heater, the heater will not feel hot to the touch (similar to a radiator in a house). Since this heater is not pumping out heat in the same way as an electric heater (don’t use these in your coop) the chick cozy heater for chickens will raise the temperature of your coop – it is not designed to heat your coop to a toasty temperature like your home.
While this is also designed as a heater for chickens, this heater can also be used for other animals. The heater will not work for raising chicks since they need a much warmer temperature. For a chick brooder, you will need a specially designed brooder heater.
Our Experience Using the Chick Cozy Coop Heater
Living in NH, we only need to heat out chicken coop on a handful on nights throughout the winter. While we’ve gone some years with NO HEAT, we have had hens experience frostbite and we prefer to heat our coop a few degrees when temperatures drop below 10 degrees F OR if there is an extreme dip in temperatures.
In our coop we also heat the chicken’s water so we’ve already gotten electricy on hand.
While we appreciate the remote control, we generally turn the Chick Cost Heater on right on the panel to ensure that everything is working properly. We’ve never had an issue turning on the heater.
The heater is set at 122 degrees F. At this temperature, it barely warms our entire coop a few degrees. Most of the benefit from the heater is only felt close to the heater (this is likely due to the size of our coop). With large coops and many hens you may want to consider multiple coop heaters.
While we’ve only operated the coop heater for one season, we have been pleased with the effectiveness, safety features, and peace of mind it gives us in the coop. After using several different heaters for chickens over the years, this is our top choice for the best and safest way to heat your coop.
