Keeping Chickens Newsletter

Susan Guyaux : This chicken story is almost unbelievable. We had a few low single digit nights last week so I put the light that I use for this purpose (the type with a clamp and a metal shade around the bulb) in their house. Since these four hens have never had a light in their house before they were afraid of it naturally. After the second night of having the light in their house they started laying their eggs in the litter instead of the nesting box so I moved the light to a higher location and turned it on when I put them to bed. They have a plastic flap on the door of their house to keep the wind out but can exit to the coop whenever they want.

The next morning when I went to let them out of the coop to range, I saw the lamp on the ground in the coop. It had clearly been on fire as it was scorched and additionally, there was burned litter on the ladder going to the house. The hens were outside waiting to be let out of the coop. There was no sign of a fire in the house. All the burned litter looked like it had been moved outside.

I wish I knew what happened that night but clearly the girls were on top of it and apparently had not only practiced their fire drills but practiced putting out fires or at least removing the burning object from their home.

This is also a cautionary tale as not all hens may be as clever or lucky as mine. I'm going to purchase something different to provide heat on the bitterly cold nights. I haven't figured out what but hopefully it will be safer then the old method.

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