I'm one of the people that many frown upon because I do provide warming areas in some of my coops on the coldest nights. I have a group of oldies that I got in 2009, and lets face it, most oldies, whether human or canine or whatever, feels the cold a lot worse. That group of gals get a 75W heat bulb on cold nights. I have a coop of seramas (tiny bantam breed) who get a contained oil heater all winter long. On super cold nights (for my area of Indiana), my regular bantam coop gets a 50W heat bulb.
Healthy chickens with good nutrition/water, in a draft free environment, should be able to easily survive in temps well below freezing. Do they enjoy it? Probably not...lol. But we all deal with things we don't necessarily enjoy. That's life. I view my chickens as pets, and so they're afforded a little more comfort.
By the way...if used properly, heat lamps are wonderful things. Low wattage bulbs (found in the reptile section of most pet stores) and lamps secured properly (wired, screwed, or chained in place...not clamped) with plenty of clearance from potential combustibles...
[/quote
yOh my goodness! I can't imagine anyone frowning upon you because you have a winter system that you are happy with - at least I certainly hope not! I figure it this way, and I've said it here before - if there was only one way to do everything this entire forum would be just a few pages long and could be read in 30 minutes!
Last edited: