HEATED PIGEON OR CHICKEN NEST

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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Automatic Chicken coop/aviary door

1508531 Aviary coop auto door

I FINALLY did it (low priority). ... Fully automatic door on the Chicken/Pigeon aviary. Opens at 8:30am, closes at 9:30pm... also can open/close it from the internet while watching it on a net-cam.
. . This way, if gone overnight, the Chickens/Pigeons can still be outside during the day instead of being confined to the aviary until we get back.
IN THE video, I am manually operating it from the house with a remote.
. . Closing the door at night is only to protect the birds from predators.
comments -
Made entirely from scrap parts including a coat hanger, some aluminum strap, two 110v timers, some limit switches, and a gear reduction motor mechanism. It has a spring so no animal will get trapped if in the way of the door closing. - PIC =

150831a 2731 Aviary coop automatic door.JPG
... I've been meaning to do this for 9 years, finally got around to it. . . It will be nice when we're on vacation, I can monitor on cam, count chickens, open/close when appropriate OR let the timers take control. They ALWAYS go in 1/2 hour before dusk so it's very safe to assume they're all in when door closes ... but I can count them on cam to make sure
... Those are reflectors on the door so door position is very visible on net-cam or from the house. The rotation was important so there is never down-thrust on the bottom of the sliding door.
. . . There ARE auto doors on the market but they're $300.
VIDEO = 150831b 2731 Aviary coop automatic door.MOV
FB LINK = https://www.facebook.com/BertTheMensaChicken/videos/10153493512505295/

Checking out the intruders, Quail in the Dove Aviary

Checking out the intruders. First time for the baby Quail in their new home in the Doves Aviary. The Doves are most curious, but don't seem to care. Seem they will get along fine together.

Pic = 140929c 2731 Quail in Dove Aviary

It was 30 degrees outside today but it was 109.7 degrees inside.

Houses should be build like this....well, kinda.  Free heat, lots of it.  Yet in summer it will be as cool as under the shade of a tree (Reflective insulated covering).  Inside, the coop will be even cooler with free "air conditioning".               (30F = -1C,... 109.7F = 43C)

This is the first winter for my new aviary addition. The Chickens and Pigeons love it. It's safe, dry and warm. They love to take dirt baths and they lounge around laying in the warm sun like tourists on a beach. They're free to go outside, but prefer inside.

Whenever the aviary is over 50 degrees a thermostat turns on a fan to draw surplus heat inside to the insulated coop to warm it so the coop will remain warm all night long (free). The pigeon nests near the top are the warmest...the sand floor (about 85F degrees, 30C ) acts a bit like a heat sync during the day so at night the aviary is always about 10-15 degrees warmer than ambient, the inside coop remains well above freezing. It's all free heat. Even on cloudy days it's about 15-20 degrees above ambient.  On those minus 40 degree nights a tiny elec heater (40w hair curler) keeps the coop above freezing. The elec bill for all winter is less than $5. 

  
For more information click on Coop Design (temporarily disabled)

"Bert saves baby from freezing to death"

It was above freezing during the day but late afternoon the very strong wind and snow started and the temperature dropped below zero. Normally about 1/2 hour before dark the Chickens prepare to go into the coop for the night. Most of them did, but with the wind and snow, Betty and baby Puff were afraid to cross the snowy yard so didn't make it to the coop before dark... the temp continued to drop. It was Nasty cold.


I knew little Puff would likely freeze to death if she wasn't in a  sheltered place So we went out with flashlights and looked everywhere.  Betty then found the courage to dart across the yard to the coop, but tiny baby Puff was nowhere to be found in the dark. She's very tiny and black so is hard to find when she hides.  When we got close to her hiding place under the deck, she came out and I picked her up and carried her to the nice warm coop (about 45). She was very happy to be rescued. Bert followed me, he had stayed with the baby to keep her warm or else she would have certainly frozen (Bert has done that on 3 occasions with other hens, risked his life to save the hens).
Today, it was below zero all day but it was about 60-65 in the solar heated Aviary. The Chickens were basking in the sun like tourists on a beach.
The Pigeons stay in the aviary at night (Ambient temp) so I have covered nests for them with a small elec heater.  Sometimes they sit in the heated nests but at night they prefer to sit in the aviary on perches, even at 20 below zero (like tonight, the WindChill will be -30). I put them into the heated nests (about 20 degrees) but they come right out again. ? oh well, they don't seem to mind the cold.
Maybe they need electric blankets?

“Solar Powered Chickens” - 11/11/2006

“Solar Powered Chickens” coop, coop-design, solar, aviary, chickens
It’s a smashing success.
Ace just built this Chickens solarium/aviary for Bert and the hens. It’s connected to the coop inside the pole barn via a skyway with a gravity airlock. The coop always remains above freezing day/night. The Solarium gets too hot during the day, heating the coop for free in the process. At night the solarium cools to the ambient temperature, but the insulated coop stays warm. In summer there are numerous vents and windows and it keeps the coop cooler by keeping the hot sun off the shed wall and dissipating the heat.

The floor of the solarium is covered with 5” of dry sand so is like a huge litter box for very easy cleaning with a long handled rake/scoop. The Chickens are free to roam the yard anytime except on days when the temp does not get above 20 deg the Chickens will be confined to the draft free warm solarium where they can still fly just a bit and take sun-baths. The Chicken door is a sliding glass door.

Today it’s 30 deg but the aviary air temp is 82 in the shade, 122 in the sun. It will double as a “greenhouse” for plants in the Spring. In Minnesota it can get down to minus 40 (C and F deg).
Houses should be build like this.
UPDATE 10/2010 - Solar Aviary addition


 The entire aviary-coop is mouse proof.  Even on a overcast day the temp is 10-15 degrees warmer, with sun 60-90 degrees inside.  When the sun comes up a thermostat/fan blows hot air from the aviary into the insulated coop so the coop stays warm the next night without any additional head source.  It remains above freezing for almost no expense ($5 per year for elec heat at temps lower than 20 below, otherwise free)








With twice the floor space the Chickens are very content to stay in the aviary when the weather it too nasty for them outside.  The sand floor is very quick and easy to clean and keeps it very sanitary for the Chickens, and it also acts a bit like a heat sync to store heat for evening.


The sand floor has roofing "Ice-Shield" for a waterproof basin for the sand. The Chickens love to take dirt-baths and lounge around in the sun.

















For INFO and specs on the insulated coop inside the pole barn, see :
http://bertthemensachicken.multiply.com/journal/item/190/What_happens_in_the_Coop_stays_in_the_CoopView the Chickens in the back yard anytime via Live Chicken Cam... you control the camera
http://bertthemensachicken.multiply.com/journal/item/217/CONTROL_Berts_CHICKEN_CAM_search_for_Chickens.

Bert’s coop works so well. It’s –20F outside tonight with a wind chill of –40F but...

Bert’s coop works so well. It’s –20F outside tonight with a wind chill of –40F but the coop is 35F and the nests are 45F, with NO external heat supply. Just heat from the Chickens. with a tiny exhaust fan to keep the humidity down to 50%. By morning it would be a bit colder so just for overnight Ace put in a 80watt hair curler to supplement heat just for tonight. Today it was –5F, but the solar powered aviary was 65F and 100+ in the sun, which warms up the coop too... All for free. In Summer the coop stays 4 degrees cooler than the outside temp. These are some lucky Chickens.