HEATED PIGEON OR CHICKEN NEST for use in Outdoor aviary. Radiant floor heating for birds ~:<)
Will keep nest 10 to 15 deg F above ambient down to minus 30 deg. . .Made from ordinary 10" Pine boards.
15 watt Coffee cup heater Electric costs just pennies per year.
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This is what I made, used for 15 years in Minnesota in the draft free unheated flight aviary.
Sometimes the Pigeons sleep outside the nest anyway even at minus 25 deg ... but they do lay their eggs and sit in the nest area, If set up at eye level, you can easily see the Pigeons in the nest ( I use net-cams).
. . Works fine for Pigeons, but may NOT be warm enough for Chickens at minus 25 deg F. For Chickens, there are other easy solutions to keep Nest area ABOVE freezing
. . My Chicken coop which is attached to the outdoor aviary, uses the same principle but stays ABOVE freezing even at minus 30 degrees with the door OPEN to the unheated aviary, no need to heat water, no frozen eggs. The aviary is Solar so it's almost free heat, ..$5 per YEAR electric for small 100% VERY safe plastic dog house heater, timers, lights, vent fans, 35 net-cams. Extremely efficient for operating cost AND ridiculously easy Chicken maintenance (seconds, not minutes). For you critics, if elec goes out, it still stays at about 20 deg F above zero with no electric.
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