Comment by 6510

I couldn't find anything online about it but some old guy in a youtube video talked about them using chickens to heat houses long ago.

They build the chicken coop against the house with a very thin wall between it and the living room.

Chickens have 41-42°C body temperature. (105-107°F) With a bit of help from fermenting poop they sit very close together and heat up the coop until it gets to hot. One chicken will go outside and walk around in the snow.

The otherwise isolated living room acts like a buffer, they gradually heat it up and it helps stabilize the coop.

I've never seen this thing in action but the old man said it worked really well. I also have no idea how many chickens were used. It would require a breed that does well in cold climate. Today people put electric heaters in the chicken coop.

If it really works that well, combined with the eggs, it could make it profitable.