[Ringlets]

I guess this is not such a big issue in the UK, but I hope someone can give me an answer anyhow!
I live in norway and am planning on keeping chickens from next spring. The plan is to house them in the loft space of a large workshop we are building. Most of the workshop will have underfloor heating, and its possible to put that in for the chicken house too. But my instinct is that underfloor heating will increase evaporation from droppings, and that this again will give rather nasty air conditions..... Am I right?
We will have to heat the henhouse if we want eggs between november and april, so some kind of heating is necessary. Any suggestions?

[SnooziSuzi]

Hello Ringlet, welcome to the forum

How cold does it get in Norway in winter?  I've just googled and it says it can get to -40c in parts in winter so that's pretty cold!

Others may disagree, but if your winters (depending on where you are in Norway) average around -10 then I'd say just a straw floor would be sufficient if you are going to be heating the workshop anyway (as the warm air would rise). 

Chickens can stand quite low temperatures in winter; it's draughts they don't like so make sure your loft doesn't have draughts blowing through. 

By the way, how will the chooks get into the loft?

[Ringlets]

I should have explained more fully - the loft is over the cold storage area, so some heat will come through via the other part of the loft, but there will be a dividing wall between my storage / animal area and hubbies work area. So I dont think the amount of heat coming through will be enough for the real cold spells, and the cold spells can last for months!
Some winters here are really cold. We can have years when the temperature (24/7) is -20 or lower for 2-3 months. Definately average below zero for 4/5 months. So some form of heating will be necessary if we are to have eggs, and to keep water from freezing.

[Ringlets]

I forgot - the building is on a sloping area so the position of the hen house is such that they will have an exit/entrance about 1 m over the ground.  I figure thats an OK height for a wee ladder/walkway...?

[bantam novice]

Chickens are very good at keeping themselves warm as their feathers are like a duvet.  It is more important to make sure that the water and eggs don't freeze.  If you can keep the temperature above freezing where you keep the food and water that would be good.

Good luck and keep us posted  

[orchardlady]

I assume that the attic space is really quite large. Shared body heat is the best form of heat for chickens as they snuggle up together. I would suggest that you build them a smallish coop inside the attic so they can snuggle up together. Add plenty of bedding to to keep the house warm. You could also supply them with an infra red bulb  that would normally be used for brooding chicks. This will give off a gentle low heat but hopefully sufficient to keep a small coop warm enough. Keeping water liquid is often a problem for poultry keepers. There are products on the market that heat he water sufficiently to keep from freezing. If you have snow on the ground for moths on end the only answer is to clear it I'm afraid. Chickens really do not like snow a great deal once the novelty has worn off and will stand around looking glum on any area that's free of snow. If you are completely snowed in you could make an area of the attic their 'outside' with bedding and interesting things to do and eat. Whatever you do try to make it as labour  saving as possible. Ensure the area you use is easy to access for cleaning etc.

Orchardlady.

[richyrich7]

Light levels affect hen egg production, naturally as the days shorten most hens go off lay until the day length starts to get longer, I can't remember the exact number of hours before they stop or start laying but I think if you could give them 14 hours of light ( a light bulb will do daylight is not necessary ) you'd be ok.
 A lot of people don't agree with lighting birds over the winter months I think that's a personal choice you'd have to make.
Birds that POL late summer/early autumn time seem less affected by light length the 1st year.
When we used to light ours I found it better to "wake" them up early with artificial light and let them go sleep naturally with the sun going down, that way they'd roost normally. Not just suddenly get left in the dark.

So light levels at around 14 hrs and above freezing temps you should be ok for eggs all winter

[8doubles]

If it is just a small (well insulated ) coop inside the loft space for a few hens a thermostatic tube heater or two would probably do the trick. The hens would have one reasonably warm area to retreat to.
Underfloor heating a large area would probably make the eggs very expensive  to produce
and as mentioned before light levels are important for egg production so the loft and coop would need good lighting on a timer.

Sounds like a large electric bill !

[Kenilworth]

The light source would also to a degree be a heat source.

[Helenaj]

You can also buy black ceramic heat bulbs which they use for chick brooders and vivariums which give out no light and a few 250W bulbs should be able to keep the temperature above freezing, but they would have to be set at a height where the birds or bedding couldn't touch it as they get VERY hot. However, I would have thought the electricity to run these for a couple of months would work out quite expensive.

[hardygeranium]

Here in Sheffield we had temperatures down to -17C over a period of about a month - not quite as cold as Norway but cold enough.  Our girls are housed in a garden shed.  We used a greenhouse heater with frost control that clicked on when the temperature went below 5C.  We put down loads of sawdust on the floor and silverlined polystyrene on the walls and ceiling (fixed with drawing pins so that we could take it down again). What we did not do was cover the air vents at the top of the shed. We kept the water inside to stop it from freezing and we fitted a flap of weed suppressant fabric over part of the pophole.

When it was really cold, the girls succeeded in only using half of their perch, so close together were they!

[Ringlets]

Thanks for all the answers - I think a small "house" inside the loft will work well, hadnt thought of that. Then, as someone wrote, they can use the area around that as "outside" when its really cold. I think I will need a small heater of some sort during the worst periods. A lot of people over here have greenhouses to start the season off early, so I should be able to get a greenhouse heater with frost control...

Someone mentioned clearing snow.......will chickens still be happy outside when the ground is frozen? Cos even if I clear the snow then the ground underneath has the same temperature and is frozen solid for months. Is there any point in having outside access during the winter? Or should I just go for the large area of the loft being "outside" during the cold period? I guess Im just going to have to try and see for that one!

[Casey76]

Hi Ringlets,

How far north are you?  How many hours of daylight do you get during winter (or autumn and spring months)?

To keep up egg production during winter you will need to supplement light, so being able to have a lamp on a timer would be handy, so you can set it to a 12/12 cycle (12 hours light/12 hours dark).  This will be enough to keep your hens ticking over, but not enough that they will lay every day (full egg production usually requires about 16 hours of daylight)

Having said that, the more the hens lay, the sooner they will become "spent' as they use up all of thier ova.

As for heating, a greenhous helater, just to keep the temps at freezing/just above freezing will be quite adequate.

Although it is not sustained like it is in Norway, this winter we had temperatures down to -5 to -10 degrees for weeks, with lows of -20 occasionally, and my chickens are out in the garden with no heating at all.  as long as there are no draughts, then chickens can cope quite happily with the cold (though they may benefit froma higher energy food source, such as grain more often than during summer).

[Ringlets]

Hi Ringlets,

How far north are you?  How many hours of daylight do you get during winter (or autumn and spring months)?

To keep up egg production during winter you will need to supplement light, so being able to have a lamp on a timer would be handy, so you can set it to a 12/12 cycle (12 hours light/12 hours dark).  This will be enough to keep your hens ticking over, but not enough that they will lay every day (full egg production usually requires about 16 hours of daylight)

Having said that, the more the hens lay, the sooner they will become "spent' as they use up all of thier ova.

As for heating, a greenhous helater, just to keep the temps at freezing/just above freezing will be quite adequate.

Although it is not sustained like it is in Norway, this winter we had temperatures down to -5 to -10 degrees for weeks, with lows of -20 occasionally, and my chickens are out in the garden with no heating at all.  as long as there are no draughts, then chickens can cope quite happily with the cold (though they may benefit froma higher energy food source, such as grain more often than during summer).

Our shortest day length is about 6hrs, so we will definately need some additional lighting.

Do yours spend time outside when the ground is frozen? Will they go out onto solid hard packed snow ?

[Casey76]

Yes, and yes.  If you sprinkle grain on packed snow they will scratch for it as if they were on grass.

Chickens tend tohave quite long toe nails, so they can grip well on packed snow.  As long as the roosting bars are off the ground, they snuggle down making sure their breas feathers cover thier feed so they don't freeze.

Having said that, you may want to consider a breed with a rose or pea comb to minimise the risk of frost bite on their combs (which can become life threatening)