I plan to hook it up to a therma cube. I only got one of the sweeter heaters though, so I don't expect it will do a lot for heating the coop, but will be nice for those birds wanting more heat when it dips into the teens. I guess the biggest draw back is that I hear birds can get used to it and wont handle the cold if you lose power, but so far the temps where I live dont drop into the single digits that often, so I feel like the risk is low in this regard.
I will be getting another sweet heater for the chickens this year.
From my understanding, people who want to heat coops, do it because of low nighttime temperatures. But how does this heater help with that? The chickens won't come and go as they need it, because at night they will be asleep on the roost. They don't walk around at night, they can't see. And how would you position it so they'd be under it, if they are up on a roost? This seems unnecessary and impractical, more of a feel good for the owner, not for the birds themselves.
PA isn't cold enough for it to be a problem for chickens. Below freezing is not a big deal - people raise chickens in Alaska and Siberia where it's not only below freezing, but below 0 as well (F!) and their chickens do fine without heat. Chickens are outdoor animals and have been around for a veeeeeery long time! Electrical heating, of any kind, is a very modern human invention. Until recently, even humans didn't have it in their homes (and some still don't). How did they raise poultry throughout history and throughout the world without heaters? Think of it this way and maybe it will lift some worry off your shoulders.
I'm not too far from the stadium myself, and my chickens do just fine without added heat. I also have about 2 square feet of permanent ventilation per chicken in the coop, open year round and in all weather. The only thing they care about is not being rained/snowed/blown on. The temperature itself they can handle. They have a much harder time in the summer.
