Heat lamps placed outside of enclosed indoor chicken coop?

[BBQ2U]

We have a unique coop. It was a Tractor supply one that we built onto, using it as a guide. So our girls have a "townhouse coop. The bottom half is enclosed with hardware cloth, and the upper half is enclosed with several doorways. Upstairs in the winter we place on the wall furthest from their roosting bars a Producer's Pride Chicken coop heater panel. It is the safest alternative to the lamps. We also cover the lower portion with plastic over the hardware cloth and have another heater panel down their.
If the days are particularly cold and bone chilling, we will find eggs in front of the panels as their nesting boxes have no heating source, though they are dry. We also will find them going in and out of the areas with the heaters as though they are taking a break and warming up like any of us would if we got chilled. It also provides a place to help if they are feeling not quite up to snuff putting less stress on their bodies. Nope, they don't need it, but a heating panel I think is a nice thing to have without heating up the whole place which can cause unintended problems.

 

[MrsNorthie]

Producer's Pride Chicken coop heater panel. It is the safest alternative to the lamps. We also cover the lower portion with plastic over the hardware cloth and have another heater panel down their.

We used the same heater for our brooder, and since sudden temp changes cans stress the chickens out, I used it in the coop when our temps plummeted below freezing for a few days.