Heat source. Too many opinions. Gotta quit FB.

[Bob 1313]

From another discussion on BYC:

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10741227/#B7-animals-13-03824

https://extension.umn.edu/small-scale-poultry/caring-chickens-cold-weather

 

[tripletfeb]

I was also going to say that if the native wild birds can survive sleeping outside, then your chickens can certainly thrive insidr a nice comfy building. Get rid of the heater, it's not needed unless it gets down to ridiculous temps like 50 below zero. Have no water in the coop, either, as moisture in the coop is a good way to cause frostbite on combs and wattle. If your rooster has to drink out of a bucket or bowl and his wattles get wet, he'll most likely get frostbite on his wattles.

I have my water inside my coop but it's in two covered, heated buckets. So, no open water to evaporate but I just wanted to say that there are other ways to have water in the coop in winter and not have issues. It's nice to not have to go out multiple times a day, in the cold, to unfreeze chicken waterers.

OP, I'm in northern Ohio also and I don't heat my coop in the winter. If you want, that's fine but I would only turn the heater on if it's gets brutal out. I'm talking 0° or less. And only enough to take the chill out of the air, I would never heat it over 20°. If we did lose power, you don't want to shock your chickens with the cold because they don't have heat all of a sudden

 

[ladyhawke725]

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.

We put a thermoPro in the coop and we can read it from inside the house. I have a friend who set up something so that heat comes on when it gets to 40 degrees. I’m not sure what she uses but I bet it’s easily found online.

 

[M_Struna]

That's a nice coop. Here in Idaho, I just have an enclosed, insulated coop. No heat. I do heat the water to keep it from freezing. Never had a problem with freezing chickens. (Knock on wood). We get our chicks in April and by the time they are fully feathered they just naturally acclimate as the fall and winter comes. As long as they are dry and out of the wind, you should have no reason to heat the coop. My coop is 10 by 10 and 7 feet tall, just for reference. Wood shaving on a linoleum floor.

Thank you for the info…good for reference. I got mine in June and don’t think I would ever go much later than that. It was perfect. By the time they were thinking about hopping out of their storage bin brooding box in the laundry room it was warm enough to section off a portion of the coop and move them into it with their brooding plate. When I started seeing poo on the other side of the divider I took it down. They acclimated so nicely. Fully feathered well before the weather turned.