I keep an electric heater going in my coop(cuts off if moved or falls over). It has a thermostat. I live in North Carolina where it may be 40 this morning and 80 by lunch time(I have a ceiling fan and window fan for the heat). I will probably use this all winter long. Am I wrong in doing this.
Steady cold is not bad for chickens as long as they are not in a draft and they have plenty to eat. What a lot of commenters miss is how harmful temperature swings can be, especially if it goes back and forth between needing to heat up and needing to cool down. Depending on where in NC you are, you may have a climate like mine here in the mountains of East TN. I can tell you that the swings from heating to cooling and back can be chicken killers. I lost 5 of my older hens this Spring when temps went from frost to 90+ and I had turned off the heat in the coops already. We had already had 2 weeks of temps in the 80s. If I had kept them warmer during that last frost I might not have lost them. On the other hand, there is a danger of keeping them too warm when its cold and them not being able to keep themselves warm in a power failure.
 
No doubt that heat( sudden or not) that high can kill.
Our typical July and August from half to 3/4 of the days are over 90 and high humidity is not unusual. The chickens adjust pretty well although they don't lay a lot. They stay in the shade in the heat of the day and dig down into the damp soil to cool off. Before this year, I've lost maybe one hen per year to heat stress. The ones with the bigger combs seem to suffer less from the heat. Typical winter temps are in the teens and about one year out of 5 we go to -5F. We freeze & thaw all winter long. It's different from areas where things freeze and stay frozen all winter.
 
I have a question. I know chicken adapt well to cold but do they adapt well to sudden cold? We are going to be 90 tomorrow and then under 20 on monday and snow. Our coop is draft free and they have a covered run. They should be ok without any supplimental heat, right? A winter storm will be in sunday night until Thursday.
 
I have a question. I know chicken adapt well to cold but do they adapt well to sudden cold? We are going to be 90 tomorrow and then under 20 on monday and snow. Our coop is draft free and they have a covered run. They should be ok without any supplimental heat, right? A winter storm will be in sunday night until Thursday.
Yes, they will be fine.
 
I have a question. I know chicken adapt well to cold but do they adapt well to sudden cold? We are going to be 90 tomorrow and then under 20 on monday and snow. Our coop is draft free and they have a covered run. They should be ok without any supplimental heat, right? A winter storm will be in sunday night until Thursday.
No problem
 
I have a question. I know chicken adapt well to cold but do they adapt well to sudden cold? We are going to be 90 tomorrow and then under 20 on monday and snow. Our coop is draft free and they have a covered run. They should be ok without any supplimental heat, right? A winter storm will be in sunday night until Thursday.
If your temps have been well under 90, then I'd be more worried about the 90 degree day than the under 20. Sudden heat can kill more readily than sudden cold.
 
I have a question. I know chicken adapt well to cold but do they adapt well to sudden cold? We are going to be 90 tomorrow and then under 20 on monday and snow. Our coop is draft free and they have a covered run. They should be ok without any supplimental heat, right? A winter storm will be in sunday night until Thursday.
Was gonna say, sounds like Texas weather, until I saw that your from Midland, Texas. Here around in the Texas Hill Country, starting about 35 miles northwest of San Antonio, we may see it that cold from time to time. However, even though I have a draft free enclosed coop, I'll still run two heat lamps in it, when I know the temps are going to get 32 degree's or lower, but that's just me. :)
 

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