To heat or not to heat....that is the question

[123RedBeard]

I raised chickens for many years in Vermont ... Never had heat, nor cold chickens!

They will be fine, when you go to check on the eggs, bring them some fresh liquid water!

 

[Blooie]

I'm going to throw in just a bit of a monkey wrench here. I agree with 99% of the advice given here. BUT... I live in Central Maine... Just a bit further north than you do, Dani! We've had 2 extremely brutal winters. During the coldest of the cold, (Days on end when it never got UP TO 0* F) my chicken's behavior changed. Their feed consumption went down (you would expect them to eat more in the winter, not less b/c they require more calories to generate heat) and they became very lethargic. When I see behavior changes like that, I WILL provide some heat. I agree: chickens generally don't need heat, and farmers of old did not even have the means to heat their barns. But, what they did have in those barns was: Large livestock, copious piles of manure, lots of animals, and a hay mow full of hay. All of those are heat generators. And the chickens had plenty of options of hunkering down in a pile of hay to stay warm. The tiny little back yard flocks in their very clean little coops don't have any of those benefits. So... no heat... unless they SHOW you that they need it.

Good point, LG...I tend to forget that not everyone has the dry winters we have. Lots of places get the cold and humidity along with it.

 

[aart]

I agree with no heat in general...and with LG's situational example.

I do bring warm water....but....it's for a heated waterer with an AQ heater set at 68F, no sense adding cold water to it and activating the heater.
Heated waterer is sealed except for a very small anti vacuum hole, so it's doesn't add much (if any) humidity to coop.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/aarts-heated-waterer-with-horizontal-nipples


But @DaniGirl 1272 heating chickens is a common misconception,
so give your son a break and both of you sit down and read a ton here about chickens and cold weather and especially VENTILATION.