How warm should I keep my chickens

[LordEvan5]

I live in South Eastern Connecticut and it can get pretty cold. What I want to know how warm do I need to keep them.

 

[Kiki]

Got a picture of them?
Age?

 

[CluckerFamily]

The only time I turn on a heat lamp in the coop is for the -30F weeks and then the lamp only comes on for a couple hours in the morning and a couple at night before roosting. Otherwise, they are just fine.

Edited to state that all flock members are hens/a rooster/9 months old.

 

[Weeg]

You shouldn't need supplemental heat, how cold does it get? Supplemental heat will do more harm then good if it is used to often, or when they don't need it. @DobieLover

 

[DobieLover]

You need to focus on keeping the coop dry and having no drafts on the roosted birds. To accomplish that you need to remove all sources of extra water (uncovered heated waterers and the daily poop load) and all the moisture that the birds themselves belch out each night. This means LOTS of ventilation.
This is my coop.

Note all the light coming in up high and the open pop door under the poop boards. There is a second pop door, a ridge vent and two slightly cracked open windows not in the camera view as well. I bed them down a bit thicker for the winter and use hemp bedding which is very dry. The poop boards allow me to remove the nightly poop load with ease. These birds have experienced temps as low as -23F and have done well.
When I know they will have some bitter cold or really hot weather, I will add electrolytes to a waterer or to their morning Flock Raiser mash (kept in a heated dog bowl for the winter).
Their run is covered in reinforced vinyl tarps to block the wind.

And the last thing I do to ensure they stay warm in the winter is to make sure they go to roost with full crops so that the overnight digestion process continues to generate body heat that is trapped by their feathers. They also have food waiting for them when the come off the roost first thing in the morning and head out to the run.

 

[aart]

I live in South Eastern Connecticut and it can get pretty cold. What I want to know how warm do I need to keep them.

Give them lots of well ventilated space.
Their feathers will keep them warm.
If you want specific suggestions, we need to see your coop and run, inside and out.
and know how many birds you have.

 

[LordEvan5]

Give them lots of well ventilated space.
Their feathers will keep them warm.
If you want specific suggestions, we need to see your coop and run, inside and out.
and know how many birds you have.

I have 7 chickens one Polish Black Rooster one Saphire Gem Roo three RIR hens and two Polish Blue hens I will post pics of the coop in the morning I just got home from work.

 

[Alaskan]

with such fluffy heads, do you have a roofed run?

They all look full grown, so will not need heat (well... what is your coldest temp?)