Heat source. Too many opinions. Gotta quit FB.

[M_Struna]

I have ten cold-tolerant hens born 6/14/25, fully feathered. We are in NE Ohio where temperatures are threatening to dip to single digits. Coop is draft-free and ventilated and I’ve got a 40” radiant heater near the top roost bar. FB is scaring the bejeezus out of me. Isn’t this enough? At the crack of dawn they head out to the wrapped run and spend the entire day out there. I never shut the heater off so if they were too cold wouldn’t they intuitively head back to the coop? There’s a “poultry doc” on FB claiming that the coop should be kept at 40-50 degrees for their comfort and a lot of talk about “cold stress.” Six of mine are now laying every day. The other four haven’t started. I just don’t see any signs of distress or illness. I feed them Kalmbach Henhouse Reserve, have been giving them a couple handfuls of high protein treats and a scoop of cracked corn before bedtime and ordered vitamins for their water, which haven’t arrived yet. I’m just looking for a little reassurance that I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing because some of these online characters have me second guessing myself.

 

[ShrekDawg]

I think you are doing more than enough. Mine never had any heaters or insulated coops or anything and they were fine. Some actually say it’s better to have nothing in case you lose power because they won’t be as acclimated to the cold with the heater. But in your case, I don’t think it would be an issue so it’s probably fine. But they definitely don’t need it 50 degrees

 

[WingItRanch]

Facebook is a mess. BYC is full of people who actually have experience and do their research. The responses are usually thoughtful and educational. (No, I'm not a sponsor lol).

Search around on here and you'll find people in Canada and Alaska have no issues keeping chickens as long as there's proper housing to keep them dry with ventilation.

 

[M_Struna]

I think you are doing more than enough. Mine never had any heaters or insulated coops or anything and they were fine. Some actually say it’s better to have nothing in case you lose power because they won’t be as acclimated to the cold with the heater. But in your case, I don’t think it would be an issue so it’s probably fine. But they definitely don’t need it 50 degrees

That’s exactly what I was thinking. First of all I think it’d be nearly impossible to get the coop to 40 degrees with the amount of ventilation required for ten hens in an 8x8’ coop. If that was even possible, imagine the shock of going from that to say 6 degrees in the run! It doesn’t make sense to me that that would be a healthy scenario.

 

[M_Struna]

Facebook is a mess. BYC is full of people who actually have experience and do their research. The responses are usually thoughtful and educational. (No, I'm not a sponsor lol).

Search around on here and you'll find people in Canada and Alaska have no issues keeping chickens as long as there's proper housing to keep them dry with ventilation.

That’s why I only come here for advice. This is my first year keeping chickens and in an attempt to learn as much as possible I joined a lot of FB chicken groups. I only post things that I’ve found to be helpful, pointing out that I’m a newbie. Some of the comments range from ill-advised to ridiculous and sometimes hateful, and I’m sympathetic to people searching for help.

 

[FarmerGirl101]

There is no need to a heater in the coop and it tends to do more harm than good. If you keep a heater in the coop and it fails one night, it can be detrimental to the chickens as they will be reliant on it to keep warm that if the outside temperature is much colder than the coop was thanks to the heater then they could go in shock. The only time a coop heater is needed is when it gets well below zero (I've seen some say -20c).

 

[ShrekDawg]

That’s exactly what I was thinking. First of all I think it’d be nearly impossible to get the coop to 40 degrees with the amount of ventilation required for ten hens in an 8x8’ coop. If that was even possible, imagine the shock of going from that to say 6 degrees in the run! It doesn’t make sense to me that that would be a healthy scenario.

Yeah, that definitely would not be healthier or healthy at all!

 

[RoyalChick]

As others have said, they will be fine - even without the heater they will be fine as long as they are out of the drafts - your set up looks nice and cozy for them.

 

[MROO]

I have ten cold-tolerant hens born 6/14/25, fully feathered. We are in NE Ohio where temperatures are threatening to dip to single digits. Coop is draft-free and ventilated and I’ve got a 40” radiant heater near the top roost bar. FB is scaring the bejeezus out of me. Isn’t this enough? At the crack of dawn they head out to the wrapped run and spend the entire day out there. I never shut the heater off so if they were too cold wouldn’t they intuitively head back to the coop? There’s a “poultry doc” on FB claiming that the coop should be kept at 40-50 degrees for their comfort and a lot of talk about “cold stress.” Six of mine are now laying every day. The other four haven’t started. I just don’t see any signs of distress or illness. I feed them Kalmbach Henhouse Reserve, have been giving them a couple handfuls of high protein treats and a scoop of cracked corn before bedtime and ordered vitamins for their water, which haven’t arrived yet. I’m just looking for a little reassurance that I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing because some of these online characters have me second guessing myself.

Keeping the temp at 40-50 is a virtual guarantee that, as soon as
the electric goes out for a couple of days in an ice storm or blizzard, you'll lose half your flock and every single comb and wattle in the coop! The "FB poultry doc" doesn't know what they're talking about.

I've recently quit FB entirely. Now that it's online monitoring of everything on our devices (not just FB posts) for illegal status and "seditious" behavior is "legal," I have no desire to use it any longer. I'm "legal" and "clean," but Big Brother can take a hike!

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

It’s 20° and dropping here and I have two chickens sleeping in trees. Well…one is in a tree. By choice. The other (a naked neck) is somewhere else. Also by choice. I’m not worried about them or the crows or the little cardinals I saw yesterday in the chicken tree. Of course mine are acclimated and the whole flock has been sleeping out up until a week ago. I have been locking them up for reasons unrelated to the cold this past week and their coop has ventilation all along the top (2” wide” and I’ve left one side of the coop open to the covered run. All that is to say, FB is dumb and the chicken people on I’ve seen on there are more likely to tuck a chicken into their bed than to let it live in it’s natural environment.