Keeping the coop warm in the winter, HOW?

[Indoroowet]

As has been said above, lower the nesting boxes.
Leave about 2 feet of space underneath. The chicks will use it .
Add a sloping roof on them, else you will be cleaning their poop, whether you like it or not.

Add a perch as mentioned. I also have the drop in 2x4 and thus easy to clean.
But a few of the chicks sleep on the floor. One sleeps in a nesting box. NO idea why .
There is about 3 inches high straw on the floor,
and the nesting boxes have 3-6 inches of pine shavings.
I have a CCTV and a remote sensing temp/moisture indicator in our coop.
So I can *see* the hens and check on the humidity.

I looked closely at your building and it seems you have a fairly large vent above the door.
That may be enough for ventilation.
Keep in mind, NO draft, plenty of ventilation !
Leave the window closed.

Absolutely no need to heat the building !
Just forget it, but keep an eye on the condition of the chickens.,
Check their combs and wattles, They might suffer from frostbite if the coop is moist during their sleeping time .
As long as the coop is *dry* (with good ventilation !!!), they should not have any problems .

But ... , you do need to make sure that their water supply does not freeze !

What would be the lowest temperatures you *may* expect ?

 

[MeepBeep]

Chickens are designed to be outside in cold weather like any other bird. They have down coats.

Not, all birds can handle the cold, many species (even some chickens) are not cold tolerant regardless of their feathers... And in many cases unhealthy, injured or elderly birds can no longer handle the cold nearly as well or at all...

The only reason they would be cold AT THE SKIN LEVEL is if there is a draft that blows their feathers such that they can not keep the warm air trapped.

Not, true injured, molting birds can have issues, and there are also exposed areas of skin that the feathers do not cover and protect...

And if you don't have adequate ventilation, your chickens will suffer from frostbite and inhalation of ammonia.

Even with proper ventilation chickens can suffer frostbite as the temperatures continue to drop... 

Note this: You will go broke trying to heat that shed.

I guess the definition of 'go broke' varies...

I heat a 1200+sqft coop and I'm not going broke... Cost about $50-$75 a month to heat it to just above freezing aka about 40°F total cost of about $150-$200 for the entire winter season unless we have a lot of extreme weather, then it might be a bit more... But, in the end, I'm not paying to heat the water, I'm not paying for heated nesting boxes and because it's 'warmer' the birds are consuming less food, so that washes out and negates some of the overall cost... In the end the cost to heat is less than the replacement cost of one breeding age peafowl and to me that is a bargain for the security and piece of mind knowing I have no frostbite or exposure concerns...

The short of it is that everyone needs to evaluate their specific situation and weigh the pros and cons... Heat is generally not needed for healthy, cold tolerant birds if they have a well ventilated draft free coop, but as soon as you get away from those three previous qualifiers then the answer to heat or not is not nearly as black and white...

Also IMO heat lamps should be pretty much totally avoided in a coop, there are MUCH safer alternatives that don't pose anywhere near the fire risk or dangers of heat lamps.... For smaller areas there are hard panel radiant heaters out there that only get warm to the touch and pose little to no fire risk or burn risk...

 

[Meadowchick]

So glad I live in the South and don't have such a quandary about a heated coop...I would probably run myself ragged