I am doing something this winter I never did before. During the day, when the flocks are in their runs, I have hung red heat lamps about 30 inches from the ground. At first, they all ignored them. By the end of the first day, I noticed my six-year old SLW who's having a very difficult molt has planted herself under one.
Even the fearsome four Sussex in the rear run have taken to warming themselves periodically under theirs. Today, it didn't get over 30, warm by Rocky Mountain standards, though it was almost 40 in the covered runs. But on days it has been in the single digits, they all take turns under the lamps.
Their coops are heated with oil-filled heaters and I only utilize them when the night temp is in the low teens or below, and I set them to the lowest possible setting simply to keep the temp above freezing.
Some folks provide no heat whatsoever, and chickens are surprisingly adept at coping with any low temperature you throw at them.
I provide heat because I know it makes the chickens more content. Cold makes them as cranky as it does us. And frozen poop is impossible to clean off the poop boards, so I heat the coops above freezing for me.
