radiant heating options, nipple waterer

thought I'd share some of the things I have encountered in the last week to do with radiant heating.   I am still exploring and not totally sure how I want to proceed re heating coops in the future but this year I plan to have heating available (heat lamps and radiant heating bulb thingie).  I have about half the flock with single combs and half with other and then the few dark cornish with their feathering that won't be the most efficient for insulation.  Fortunately we have electricity in the barn, and a wood stove in there too as back up.  I know that the chickens will become accustomed to heating if I start with it and it would be unfortunate to find the power go out and thus the chickens without that heating they have become accustomed to.  We have had power go out in the past during winter.  

Here are a couple of radiant heating options that I expect may not be new to you but are to me and I wondered if other newbies might enjoy to hear about them.

*  ceramic heat emmitter bulb (I got a 250 watt one, to use instead of a bulb and makes no light, radiant heat)
http://www.ebay.com/itm/150W-110V-CERAMIC-HEAT-EMITTER-BROODER-INFRARED-LAMP-BULB-REPTILE-PET-COOP-GROW-/160957377319?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2579ceab27

*  Sweeter Heater:
http://www.sweeterheater.com/bizweb.asp

*  Flex Watt Heat tape for making your own heater, much cheaper to run than other heaters but you have to make it up yourself.  I saw one made by a couple for raising chicks once hatched.  She told me what she'd do differently and what worked.  Think it comes with instructions.
http://www.amazon.com/Flex-Watt-Heat-Tape-Attached/dp/B00AHEZF6I/ref=sr_1_3?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1382900461&sr=1-3&keywords=flexwatt+heat+tape

Also, same woman showed me how she has used the nipple waterer thingies.  I have ordered some off amazon, very cheap.  She told me how she keeps them from freezing up, wish I had taken some photographs.  You can get a cord from the hardware store for wrapping around plumbing.  It has a thermostat on it, plug it in to the wall and wrap around the bucket.  And, on her pex pipe arrangement where the nipples are spaced evenly down the length she has wrapped this cord and taped with plumbing tape so that each nipple has the heating cord right near (touching as close as possible) to keep from freezing.  She also had that pipe on a chain at each end so that it could be lowered or raised for the growing chickens and it was on an angle so if chickens of different heights were in there they could find the nipple that was best for their height.  I really like the idea of using these nipple waterer thingies, keep humidity out and clean water and less cleaning for me (selfish selfish selfish!).  

Haven't made any decisions yet but food for thought  -  feed the obsession :-).  Thinking of the radiant heaters with a view to raising chicks from eggs once out of the incubator but have a couple of banties so might not need to do that unless I actually want to handle them, I like my hands on the ends of my arms and know banties not always good at sharing the parenting role, sometimes inclined to take hands and arms off so I hear.

I haven't tried the ceramic bulbs myself, but someone (on here I think) said they don't work well. I would think that they're designed for aquarium use, and wouldn't be helpful in a larger space.

There are many variations of the nipple waterers online. Some of them are quite complicated. I did the simplest thing possible, with mounting them on rubber pails and putting a sinking pail deicer in the bucket. If it doesn't work, I will try something else and report back.

The sweeter heater is similar to the eco glow heater from Brinsea and also the flat panel heaters from Shop the Coop. More stuff for you to check out!

Heat tape is available at most hardware stores, no need to shop online for it.

thanks Authentic. will report back on how I find the ceramic bulb - I believe it is designed not to heat a whole area but to provide heat in the one localized space. I have it set up in the banty pen so it is directed to their smallish corner space roost (above their laying boxes which has a poop tray thingie above but below the roost - wonder if they will still want to lay in those boxes?? they are clean etc. but underneath their roost might not gel with them??). Have also got that corner sort of walled off by putting up that insulation bubble wrap stuff. The barn is not especially drafty but it is a big space so thought would be nice for them to have a warm/secluded corner to roost. Their pen is probably 4 feet wide by maybe 8 feet long so good for not too many birds.

Another option that you might want to consider is seeing as how you mentioned having a wood stove in the area ? is by wrapping a copper coil around the stove pipe and having a small pump ( pennies a day to run ) pump water out of a 45 gallon drum that would heat the water which would heat the area ? My cousin  did that and he kept the coop at a room temp all winter (not really  insulated coop) If you have a power outage the water retains it's heat and slowly displaces it back into the room ? Not quite radiant but ?  the other use for a wood stove would be the same except that you put coils of pipe on the floor , cover with cement or possibly maybe a mulch ( as long as the pipes are secured to the floor  and are covered ) which would give you a radiant floor thus leaving you with all the room at a even temp

Sort of like this design of a water heater



WHY NOT USE SOME OF THE HEAT TYHAT ESCAPES THROUGH THE PIPE //

Is your coupe insulated? I dont think I would honestly worry about it. My coupe is plain and boring with no insulation. I provide heater dog water bowls kept outside. I did not provide heat at all last year and the year before I just had a 100 watt bulb on a timer for extra light to keep eggs going. It was off during the night. I have all kinds of birds from bantams, polish, australorp, various ducks and they have all survived.

Plus you guys would be slightly more mild then us. Birds huddle together and keep warm and eat lots.

thanks for the thoughts Prairiedog. I have always been a fan of making the burning of wood work for as many projects as possible - wood cook stove heating the house and water too if it can be arranged. We don't put the wood fire on in the barn unless necessary because it taxes the wood supply for the house but it is there if needs must. I have a neighbor who has in floor heating using a massive boiler outside - I saw inside it one day - like a creosote cave! Can burn anything in there pretty much, all the junk wood. They love the way it heats their house. And, other neighbors have a greenhouse which would probably grow tomatoes all year because they have pipes run through it from their boiler. I have massive coveting issues over those boilers! It is definitely food for thought - I know I will revisit this idea.

Hi Fuzzylittlefriend, the coops are in the barn. I have taken over about one third of the space in there - there was already one coop from the previous owners and two others were very easily converted from the structure they had in there for a dog and I think ducks. The barn is insulated (fiberglass) and it also has the added odiferous feature of old packrat poop in the walls and the current freeloaders, mice. grrrrrrrrr. I'm going to get traps next time I'm near Princess Auto (live traps, kill em quick myself cause the others are semi good at killing and I hate slow deaths). We aren't really right in Osoyoos. More like 20 min from a ski hill. Gets cold enough, 2 feet of snow for 4 months (give or take). However, for all my worry about cold and heating, I'm really beginning to recognize that chickens can handle real cold so long as ventilation, humidity taken care of. I am just a little concerned about my single comb kids.

Nipple report: it was -15 here this morning. Nipples mounted on rubber buckets with pail de-icers, still flowing freely this morning. (Coop is not heated.)

I have one tractor with chickens still in it, they have a pop bottle nipple waterer inside their little tractor and no heat, and it was frozen solid this morning. I added a light to their tractor, so hopefully that will keep it from freezing today. It's supposed to warm up tomorrow and their quarantine is up this weekend, so I only have to keep their water flowing for a few more days before they go into the main coop.

thanks for the nipple report :-). I can't wait for the ones I ordered to get here.

My nipple waters were frozen this morning, I have a heater in the water tub and a pump to push the water through the pipe with the nipples but it didn't work to keep the ones farthest away from freezing. My concern about heat tape on the pipes is the chickens pecking them. I don't insulate either, they seem to handle the cold we get here well. Feed consumption goes up a bit when it is colder that is all that I notice.

hey BCKev, do you have snow yet? None here, just a thick layer of larch needles. Neg 4 this morning. Didn't feel I could say that earlier in repsonse to Authenticfarm with her neg 15, our neg 4 seems to pale in comparison!

Wish I had paid closer attention to your coops when I came by that time. My learning curve is so steep right now, took in all I could on that day and it was minimal cause so new to it all - the Isa's broke my landing and now I'm running! I think I will get some of that heating tape and make it so not easy to get at it - don't want them pecking it either. They have a thermostat on them so that will help for electricity expense. They don't have to have really warm water, just water to drink.

minus four here this morning too. One of the things I was thinking if I do heat tape would be to cover it with duct tape so it is harder for them to get to the wire. No snow and I don't want any for a long time, I need to get caught up. I have built a couple more coops since you were here last. I have one more to do before I am finished.

It was -20C here at 7:00 this morning (I am assuming it was colder overnight), my nipple waterers were still flowing freely. Insulated coop, but no heat source added yet.

very cool Authenticfarm. whoops, pun unintended   but good anyway  . I go to pick my nipple waterers up today and make the set up! whoohooo. will take pics if I get my act together. we are so not as cold as you are there. can get that cold but not that regular. you must be pretty darned high.

Not so much - I'm in east central Alberta, smack dab in the middle of the province.

The ACTUAL middle of the province, that is. Lots of people seem to think that Red Deer is the middle of the province, and that Calgary is the southern end and Edmonton is the northern boundary. I'm not one of those people. There is a lot of province that is way north of me!

authenticfarm wrote:Not so much - I'm in east central Alberta, smack dab in the middle of the province.

The ACTUAL middle of the province, that is. Lots of people seem to think that Red Deer is the middle of the province, and that Calgary is the southern end and Edmonton is the northern boundary. I'm not one of those people. There is a lot of province that is way north of me!

there is soooooo much of Canada I want to see. I don't have much of a reference point for where the center of Alberta is but you are putting it on the map for me  .

It was about -10 at our house this morning. Our birds may be a little on the spoiled side. The coop is fully insulated with 6 inches of fiberglass insulation, and I rigged up a thermostat to a heat lamp so that it comes on whenever the coop gets down to just above freezing. It seldom comes on though. The temperature has to be close to -20 for that to happen.

-25 when I went out to do chicken chores this morning. -14 inside coop. The nipples on the buckets closest to the windows were frozen, but I was able to get them flowing again quite easily. The bucket in the middle of the coop was fine.

I broke down and turned on one 100 watt heat bulb, in the hopes that it would warm the coop enough to keep the nipples unfrozen. This is supposed to be the coldest day of the next little while, so if I have to deal with frozen nipples for a couple of days, no biggie. The chickens didn't seem to be dying of thirst just yet.

I figured out my frozen water nipples issue. I think. The bucket in the middle of the coop has a higher-wattage, heavier-duty de-icer in it. The other two both have the same small bucket de-icer from UFA ($39.99 or so) in them. As those two are both having problems with freezing, I went ahead and ordered some heavier duty de-icers off Amazon in the hopes that they will do the trick and I won't have to worry about frozen water nipples any more!

-8 in the coop right now, and the nipples are not frozen. -12 seems to be about when the issue manifests. I've been hitting the frozen ones with my blow dryer (faster than trying to find my husband's heat gun!) for about 30 seconds and that thaws them right out.

thanks for keeping the updates coming Authentic, I am about to begin assembly of one and see how it goes.  If it works good tonight I will buy more heat tapes and make another.  This is what I'm going have a go with, mostly because I have all the things I need.  The nipple thingies cost $8 - $9 from Amazon for 10.  I got the heavier duty ones.  I am hoping the heat tape works and if it doesn't we'll go for a de icer maybe.  
I got this picture off Backyard Chickens  -  I have plenty of buckets and some spare insualation stuff so we'll see how it goes.  We don't get as cold here as many others seem to so fingers crossed the heat tape and insulation pocket will work good.  My heating tape has that big bulky thermostat/temp reading point so will have to cut a hole in the outside bucket to make room for it.  

Some interesting ideas here. I have a similar set up to Magdelan's for pigs with a stock tank and a gravity feed nipple, I have two main problems so far. The nipple froze in the cold weather and I haven't been able to train the pigs to use the nipple waterer.