How To Keep Chickens Warm in Winter? (With and Without Electricity)

How to keep chickens warm in winter? It is a common question for most chicken raisers at the start of winter. Most experienced poultry raisers know different ways to keep chicken coop warm with and without electricity.

But if you are a newbie, winters can give you and your flocks a headache. Don’t worry; this guide will help you to insulate your chicken coop from in and out.

Most of the hens of various chicken breeds lay eggs during the winters. If you don’t want them to stop laying eggs in cold climates, you must keep your chicken coop warm.

There are various ways to keep chickens warm in winter. One of the methods is using the best chicken coop heater. But here, you will know amazing ideas to keep the coop warm without electricity.

Your chicken will love to stay warm and cozy in a freezy environment. It also helps them to keep laying eggs during the winter.

Setting up a poultry farm in winter is quite challenging, but after reading this, you can keep your chickens warm all day and night. So, let’s understand how to keep your chickens warm in winter.

13 Best Ways To Keep Your Chickens Warm in Winter: With and Without Electricity

These tips will solve your winter chicken coop problems. Many chicken breeders face difficulties managing their chickens in the freezing cold. Well, that will not happen again because you can easily insulate your chicken coop in winter after reading these steps.

Winter is difficult for your chickens to stay warm. The following are the best ways to keep chickens warm in winter.

1. Minimize Holes and Leaks To Keep Chicken Coop Warm

Before the winter, you need to make sure that there are no drafts or any air leaks available in the coop. Holes and leaks in the chicken coop will let the cold breeze inside the house make your chickens uncomfortable.

The holes are not suitable for warming the coop. By stopping these leaks initially, you can keep your chickens warm in winter without electricity.

The farmer must repair the chicken shelter and close all those filthy holes to avoid cold air inside the coop. The chicken coop will remain warm unless there is no incoming icy wind.

Set your best winter chicken coop before the arrival of winter. You won’t face any problems as the coop will remain warm. To make it even warmer, you can use a chicken heater.

You can cover the chicken coop with a tarp for better covering of any holes and air leaks,

2. Right Choice of Food To Keep Chickens Warm in Icy Winter

The farmer must ensure that the chickens are supplied with excellent food with a decent amount.

The right type of food can increase their immunity against cold weather. Winter caring avoids any soft and no shell egg’s problems in laying hens.

These ladies need special treatment, such as food with a higher protein rate and enough water supply. Giving your boys and girls the best quality food and occasional treats keeps their bodies warm during the cold.

3. Application of Deep Litter for Warming the Chicken Coop

Providing proper chicken coop bedding is most important in winter. Applying it in deep litter system keeps your chicken warm all day. There are different types of coop floor bedding that you can use to heat your birds in winter.

People use wood shavings and rice husk as the first choice for chicken coop floor bedding. These materials warm the coop floor and provide a cozy living in freezing weather.

Before winters, spread bedding about half feet in height in small and one foot in large coops. This will provide enough heat inside the chicken coop without electricity.

4. Add a Light Inside The Coop To Keep The Chickens Warm At Night

Hens are so comfort-seeking birds. They won’t lay when they find out some trouble or situation against their natural habitat. Adding a few light bulbs in your coop can provide comfortable egg-laying eggs.

If you add a few 150-250 watt bulbs inside the chicken coop, it will provide a good amount of heat inside the chicken coop.

Putting one of two bulbs inside the chicken coop provides easy and comfortable egg laying in winter. You can use infrared bulbs for lighting and heating during winter nights.

5. Hanging a Cabbage Work Like Exercise Toy in Winter

Hanging vegetables works like an exercise tool for chickens in winter. Your chicken will stay warm by pecking on the cabbage or other vegetables.

My chickens love peaking on hanging vegetables like cabbage, cucumber, apple, or corn. Unlike humans, chickens feel quite joyful. Their pecking and jumping toward the hanging vegetable help chickens stay warm.

You can check our list of the few best chicken toys.

6. Allow Sunlight Inside Chicken Coop in Daytime

It will help if you modify your coop with a few architectural changes. Not only enough space but providing sunlight in day time reduce moisture and keeps the chicken coop warm.

The coop should get a design of a cold frame or greenhouse type of addition. Sun rays will help you to insulate your chicken coop in winter.

When the weather is a little good, they can move out and enjoy the sun without leaving the definite area. It will give a good feeling to your chickens that they can enjoy the winter, along with some sunlight in clear weather.

7. Protect Your Coop From Frostbite

Chickens are not doing well in winter. They require a warm environment around the coop. Choosing a good chicken heater or heating pad can be excellent for raising the temperature slightly. 

Here are two of the best chicken coop heater:

• TRUSTECH Space Heater, 1500W Portable Chicken Heater
• Cozy Products CL Safe Chicken Coop Heater 200 Watts

Read here our complete guide on chicken coop heaters.

To protect your chicken breeds with large combs and wattles from frostbite, smear their wattles and combs with petroleum jelly.

The jelly keeps those regions slightly warmer than usual, so the coldest winter climates won’t leave any choice. The breeder should do it.

8. Keep Your Chickens Away From the Snow

Chickens do not admire the snow at all. It won’t give them a good and warmer feeling. Even though they have feathers to keep themselves warm, they still require a suitable warming condition.

The availability of snow completely ruins their lifestyle. So, keep them away from the snow. Do not let your birds leave the coop. Supply them enough food, water, protein, and a Thermo chicken perch (checkout our recommendation here).

A heater can warm the atmosphere of the chicken coop. It also keeps the snow away, as the higher temperature can melt it into water. However, the chicken raisers must pay attention to pass the snow inside your coop.

 9. Don’t Go Hard on Your Chicken Flock

Chickens are fond of roaming outside. They can judge the weather condition.

If your chickens want to go outside, do not stop them. They have the right sense of the weather. A little sunshine is better for them because it keeps their body warm.

The sunlight will surely please their mood. If the conditions are worse, they have the best tendency not to go away but stay inside the coop. So don’t go harsh with your flocks.

It will be worthless to waste your energy and time just trying to keep them inside the shelter. 

10. The Best Choice for the Chickens Is a Roost

Building a good roost for your chickens is most important in early winter. Chicken roosting bars are one of the best things to keep the chicken warm during cold weather.

Chickens love to roost together. The farmer should build a roost at some altitude, at least 2 to 3 feet above the ground level.

The farmer should do some inspection with a flashlight during the evening. Try to keep all those birds in the highest place. Chicken roosting bars and perches are one of the best ways to keep chickens warm in winter.

11. Feed Your Chicken With Corn in the Evening Time

Giving corn in evening treats helps your chicken to remain warm during cold winter nights. Some people prefer to provide popped popcorn to their chickens.

My chickens are fond of corn. They enjoy pecking and eating popcorn and are happy to fill their crop. Adding corn to their diet can help your chicken to digest healthy food at night.

Also, they are an excellent source of protein, which will help chickens to stay warm on winter nights.

Also read: Can chickens eat popcorn?

12. Divide Them to Avoid Unwanted Death

This is most important if you have many chickens in a single coop. Sometimes because of excessive cold in winter, mainly small chickens climb on each other in a corner of the shed.

Because of this, all weak chickens die by pressing below the others. This causes the unwanted death of flocks on your farm.

To avoid this loss, divide your baby chicks and chickens into batches of 30-50. Mainly this issue mostly happens in rural areas with high electricity power cuts.

So, for many flocks, use a space heater and separate your flocks to maintain heat inside the chicken coop.

13. Use Brooders

Can we use brooders as a heater in winter? Yes, of course, you can. Brooders are not only brooding equipment but also provide good heat inside the chicken coop. 

You can use a few best brooding lights to keep the chicken coop warm. It will make your boys and girls more comfortable.

In winter, most chicken farmers use infrared bulbs to keep their baby chicks and other flocks warm inside their coop.

If you still want to know more about chicken brooders, read our complete guide on brooding here.

Conclusion

After reading this guide, I hope you can now handle any worst situation for your chicken flocks in winter. In this guide, we have included various easy ways to keep chickens warm in winter.

Electrical equipment is not enough to heat a chicken coop in all situations. You need to take the support of a few other techniques to keep your chickens warm without electricity.

I hope these above points help your chickens to stay warm in winter. How do you keep your chickens warm in winter? You must share your experience below.