Last week I completed the new deluxe chicken shed for my daughter’s special “smallest breed of chicken” called seramas was completed This shed has to be heated since these chickens that came from Malaysia don’t do well in freezing temperature.
The Problem
By last Tuesday, we had some chickens in this insulated shed and it started to get colder outside. My daughter slept out there several nights to wake up and turn on/off the radiant heater. The crunch was coming Friday night because we’d all be gone helping with the youth group’s, all night, lock in.
Living off grid means not using simple electric heater to warm the shed up. As I always say here and elsewhere, our precious off grid power is not for heat, thats why God gave us firewood and propane! The choice for this, now insulated, 8′x8′ space is propane. Our larger indoor vent less propane heater in the kitchen has worked well for years. But it’s over kill for this small space.
After some research I found the perfect solution: a small portable propane heater with a thermostat made for indoor use(10,000BTU). The unit has an oxygen depletion sensor, so it will shut off if the oxygen in the room drops (not enough natural ventilation). It will heat a 300 square foot area according to the description.
The Crunch
These heaters were at Lowes, and were formerly a stocked item. Our choices were purchase it online and miss our Friday night deadline with the lock in, or find one at a store and pick it up. I did all kinds of phone calls to Lowes in our area and around the state. One store would say that two other stores had them in stock, “according to the computer”. The clerk at another store found none, etc, etc. We found one 200 miles away!
I explained to the clerk how important it was to get this right, to physically set the unit aside. I paid for it over the phone. Jackie got to take the long road trip the next day, and there were few complaints from our teens about going with her for a bonus day off school!
When Jackie returned with the heater, I found it did not have the hose or regulator needed to connect up a propane bottle. Friday morning she went to our friends at A’s RV parts and repair with the heater. Buddy hooked everything up necessary and even tested the unit!
The solution
Since the chickens are special to my daughter, I didn’t want to take chances. I put a small web cam in the shed and used duct tape to fasten a digital thermometer in the view field of the camera. All the youth group kids got a kick steering the camera around the chicken shed and looking at the thermometer!
Woke up this morning, Monday, and it is 6 degrees Fahrenheit outside. I can see those toasty little chickens are happy at 46F.
Learn more about the little chickens at: Seramas.net
Please leave a comment if you find this helpful or have any suggestions, I reply to all comments!
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I wanna see the web cam in the shed!
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Thinking about offering that for maybe a week or so soon. The feed is from my off grid home and everyone would have too much fun steering the camera around looking at chickens, and thermometer! Have to be mindful of my remote bandwidth.