Should I heat my chicken coop in winter?

If you live in a colder climate you're probably worried about your chickens in the coming winter. Here in western Pennsylvania it get's pretty cold and snowy for most of winter but I don't heat my coops. I actually did put a heat source in my coop the first year I had chickens, but I've since learned that it's completely unnecesary and potentially dangerous.

We all worry about our chickens getting cold but if you think about it, lots of wild animals spend the winter outside and do perfectly fine. One thing you might not know is that wild birds do not sleep in their nests. Nests are only for raising baby birds, the rest of the year they sleep in the trees. They don't even have walls or a roof to protect them from the snow or cold and they do just fine.

The main reason I do not heat my coops is that heat lamps are notoriously unsafe! Every winter I hear of coops and barns that catch fire because of heat lamps. They are ridiculously hard to secure, even with the multiple zipties and metal hooks I used to anchor it to pretty much anything near by. 

The chickens must be able to get close to it to be effective, but being close to it means they could knock it down or fluff feathers or bedding up into it which can catch fire. Plus heat bulbs burn out eventually and you might not be around or awake to change the bulb.
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Should I heat my chicken coop in winter?was originally posted by Favorite Chicken Blogs