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[sillychicks123]

I try to block off as much air circulation in their hen house to keep the cool air from freezing my chickens at night! lol! Their hen house is in a barn yard style, which has two large "windows" at the top with one inch wire screening them to keep out pests. During the winter, I take blocks of wood and stick them over those windows to keep the air breeze from getting into their house at night. Another funny thing I do is give them extra stuffed animals to sleep with. (They are silkies and they love to snuggle!)

 

[DMyers764]

My girls are very lucky, because they live in san francisco, yes city chicks! I keep their coop in my garage and they free range in my yard all day! I have a energy efficient red bulb on for them in their coop 24 hrs a day. the girls seem to like the red light. When it is a little chilly, I switch to a 250 watt heat lamp bulb, but only use this for short periods of time because it is costly to run! So my tip is live in a warm climate and if that is not possible provide a 250 watt red light blub on a timer to keep them warm! hope this helps!

 

[TwoCrows]

We can get brutally cold and heavy snows up here at 7,000 feet in the mountains of New Mexico. My coop roof is pitched with ventilation along the lower side of the roof and the higher end of the roof so that the air moves in one side, up and out the other. Only if there is going to be a stiff wind with temps below zero do I cover the lower eaves to slow the air venting out the higher part of the roof. I wrap the roost bar with an old towel so that the chickens feet stay warmer. I use a panel heater in front of the roost bar and is only turned on when the temps dip to minus 10 or minus 20 degrees at night. My run is 8x12 feet. In the past I have shoveled the snow out of the run, and am tired of doing so. So I have purchased several clear, heavy duty shower curtain liners that are 6'x6' in length. I plan on attaching them to the hardware cloth on the outside, not only to keep the snow out, but keep it warmer with less wind inside the run. I also use heated water bowls so I don't have to haul warm water outside every few hours. Oh, and I offer up extra sunflower seed and corn for added fat and carbohydrates in their diet.

 

[tootsi]

On top of providing a draft free, well ventilated coop with plenty of deep, clean, dry bedding (sand base with pine shavings then straw on top) I give them a warm tasty breakfast of oatmeal, molasses, cracked corn to start their day. They love it and in return provide me with lots of eggs!

 

[Anfan]

I find that the best winter insulation i could ever find for my chickens coup in the winter is old seed pallets stuffed with roll insulation. It forms an instant wall that acts as a barrier from the cold. Plus many feed mills just throw the pallets away so you can usually get them if you ask. My chickens stay warm and draft free when I line up the pallets along tge coup walls.

 

[MelissaTXRn]

This is our 1st winter with chickens but I am going to put a tarp only on the back side of our coop so the North wind will be blocked. In Texas, we most likely won't get snow or a freeze.

 

[cdover15]

Here's my tip that was successful last winter- We have a heat lamp in our coop for the winter, but the water bowl inside still managed to freeze. Our solution was to screw a light bulb (not sure on the watts) to the floor, then place a flower pot over it, completely covering the light bulb. When it was turned on, it was warm to the touch. Warm enough to keep the water from freezing over if the bowl was placed on top of the flowerpot. Last year we were beginners, and our plan still had some flaws. The chickens would knock over the water bowl, getting cold water everywhere. We also quickly realized our coop was drafty, and the walls inside got wet every time it rained or snowed heavily. This year we plan on improving our water-heater by screwing the water bowl into the flower pot. Hopefully the water will not leak through. We are also going to insulate the coop to hold in the warm air we produce through the heat lamp, flower pot/light bulb, and chicken body heat.
This is unrelated to keeping the coop warm, but for chickens and ducks, shovel paths in the snow for them to walk around in. It makes them want to go outside more and they get a chance to get fresh air. Just supervise them and make sure no one gets too cold outside.

 

[BinaryChicken]

Don't worry about heating, most breeds do not need external heating!

 

[Leahs Mom]

We like our chickens to be able to get outside every season of the year and possibly even find some natural food in the coldest weather. One thing we do to help facilitate this is to create a deep mulch/litter in the outdoor run. The chickens can continue to scratch and dig through it and are often able to find live bugs and worms all year long.

To accomplish this, we've used several materials. We kept piles of wood chips when we had trees removed, and are also able to get them free from one of the local tree services. After the chips cure, we dump them in the run in piles. The chickens love to scratch through and distribute it throughout the run quite nicely. We continue to do this throughout the warmer months a little at a time until the mulch/litter is quite deep. In addition to, or in place of, the wood chips, fall leaves, grass clippings, etc. can also be piled into the run. We also put the deep litter from the chicken coop into the run when we clean it out so that it can further break down and add to the deep mulch we are creating.

This provides a "warm floor" for the run, and makes a great occupation for the chickens during the boring winter months. They love scratching to find those "live food" sources, and it keeps the run from becoming an impacted, muddy mess.

 

[All Henned Up]

I made water heaters out of 1/2 cinder block, put a light fixture inside block with 25 watt bulb, set a plastic waterier on top, bought thermostatically controlled threeway plug adaptor from Cuttlers supply called the cube, that turns on at 35 and off at 45 degrees. I can run 9 of them off one cube. Total cost for 9 antifreeze waterier's less than 100 with all the cords.