How to Keep Chickens Warm in the Winter

This is my second winter raising chickens. We have had very cold sub-zero weather here in Wisconsin, but my chickens seem to be happy in their coop. I wasn't sure how to keep chickens warm in the winter when I first started. The coop is fairly large and we have over 30 birds, so we hung two heat lamps above their roosting areas. They seem to prefer to roost up above these lamps in the rafters. The coop is not insulated, but I believe that their body heat and the heat generated by the thick bedding that is increasingly building up in the coop helps keep the coop at a comfortable temperature.

I thought perhaps we would need to add some insulation to the outside of the building as the cold weather approached. Last year we did this, but they pecked at the insulation that they could reach. So I determined we would only add it if it seemed necessary. I don't think we'll be needing it...they seem pretty snug.

I had a friend from church ask me how we set things up. He wanted to know how to keep the chickens warm and if we were getting eggs. I told him about our heat lamps and the double benefit they provided. The light from the lamp gives the chickens' bodies the daylight hours required to continue laying eggs through the winter (we are getting about 2 dozen/day). The heat from the lamps seems to be doing a decent job of keeping the chickens warm enough.

We tend to not clean out the bedding over the winter. We just keep adding more layers. The bedding in the bottom starts to decompose like compost and generates heat. This helps heat the coop and definitely helps insulate the coop.

There are two windows in our coop and I really thought that they'd create too much draft, but I truly think if anything......the building could use extra ventilation for the birds. It's kind of a catch 22 for these critters. They love fresh air and being outside, but it is just too cold when it is just above or below zero.