How to Heat a Chicken Coop in Winter, Step by Step

What you end up with, and how much work it is

At the end of these steps there is one flat panel on the wall beside the roost, a fixed outlet, and a thermostat between the two. The coop air stays cold. The birds have a warm spot to sit near when they want it.

The work falls into three unequal parts. Measuring and fixing the coop takes an afternoon. The outlet is a job for an electrician. Mounting the panel takes minutes. If you skip the first two parts and start with the third, you have the setup that fire guidance warns about: a heater on a cord in a damp, drafty coop.

One caveat belongs at the top. Whether adult chickens need heat is disputed. Three extension services advise against it for birds that are protected from wind and wet, one recommends it below 35 °F inside the coop, and two say it depends on the flock. This page is for readers who have weighed that and decided to heat. The arguments are under do chickens need heat in the winter. The care that comes before any heater is a page of its own, how to keep chickens warm in winter, and the fall repairs are under winterizing a chicken coop.

What you need

• A thermometer for roost height
• A fixed outlet with ground-fault protection at the coop
• A flat radiant panel made for coops
• A thermostat outlet, unless the panel has a thermostat of its own
• Screws for the wall mount and a soft brush for dust

Seven steps in order

1. Measure inside the coop

   Hang a thermometer at the height of the nest boxes or the lower roost. That is where the University of Minnesota Extension takes the reading for its 35 °F recommendation. It is an indoor figure. The forecast low says little about it, because a flock warms its own air to some degree.

2. Fix the coop first

   Seal cracks that let wind blow on the birds, keep an opening near the roof, lay several inches of dry bedding and give the birds a flat wooden roost. A panel cannot make up for a draft across the roost or for damp air. The steps are described under keeping a chicken coop warm without electricity, and they apply with electricity too.

3. Get fixed power to the coop

   The NFPA tip sheet for backyard coops rules out extension cords in the coop and asks that electrical work be done by a qualified electrician, with outlets and switch boxes designed to keep out dust and water. Ohio State University Extension asks that the electrical feed be sturdy, safe and not accessible to the chickens. More under electricity to the chicken coop.

4. Choose a low-wattage radiant panel

   Take a closed, flat panel sold for coops rather than a lamp or a household heater. Look for wattage, dimensions and a listing mark on the manufacturer's own page. There is no rule in the sources that sizes a heater by the floor area of the coop; see what size chicken coop heater.

5. Mount it firmly beside the roost

   Screw the panel to the wall next to the roost, off the floor. The NFPA asks that heaters be kept away from anything that can burn and cannot be knocked over. Leave the birds room to move away from the panel. Positions, heights and cord routing are covered in detail under how to install a chicken coop heater.

6. Add a thermostat

   A panel that names no thermostat heats whenever it is plugged in. A plug-in thermostat outlet such as the Thermo Cube^* (paid link) switches it by the air temperature at the outlet. Panels with a built-in sensor exist as marketplace listings with seller-only data. Both routes are compared under chicken coop heaters with a thermostat.

7. Check and clean through the winter

   The NFPA asks keepers to brush cobwebs and dust from fixtures and outlets regularly and to check wiring for damage. Do it when you tend the birds, and look at where they sit. Birds pressed against the panel all night, or birds avoiding it, both tell you something about its position.

All panels, including budget and marketplace alternatives, are compared on the page about the radiant panel heater.

Why not simply warm the whole coop?

Three reasons come from the sources.

Ventilation works against it. A coop needs an open vent all winter. The University of Wisconsin–Madison Extension describes the balance between ventilation and warmth as the central challenge, and says ventilation stays important whether heat is provided or not. Warm air leaves through the vent. Warmth that has soaked into the birds does not.

Acclimation. Ohio State University Extension advises letting chickens get used to the cold naturally as winter approaches, because that builds up their tolerance. The same source warns of excess heat. Birds kept in a warm coop meet the cold unprepared when they step outside or when the power fails.

Power and risk. Warming air takes far more power than a 150-watt panel delivers, and every additional watt runs next to bedding and dust. The University of New Hampshire Extension judges the risk of a heat source causing a fire as too high in most circumstances, given combustible bedding and birds that knock things over.

What it uses

A 150-watt panel that runs for a 14-hour night uses 2.1 kilowatt-hours. Multiply by the rate on your electricity bill for the cost. With a thermostat the panel runs fewer hours, so this is an upper bound.

Typical mistakes

• Starting with the heater. A heater in a damp, drafty coop treats the symptom. The University of Maryland Extension notes that damp air feels much colder than dry air.
• A heat lamp because one is at hand. The first two rules of the NFPA tip sheet are about heat lamps, and the Maine Fire Marshal's Office names them first among the causes of coop fires.
• An extension cord from the house. It is the one thing the NFPA tip sheet rules out in a single sentence.
• A panel on the floor. Free-standing use is possible with some panels, but the floor is where the bedding is.
• Closing the vents. See above.
• No thermometer. Without a reading at the roost, neither the decision to heat nor the thermostat setting has a basis.

Safety before the switch goes on

Go through the twelve rules of the NFPA tip sheet once with your own coop in mind. They are explained one by one under chicken coop fire safety. For clearances and mounting, the manufacturer's instructions for your panel are what counts. This site gives no wiring instructions.

Heat is the optional part of winter care. Liquid water is not, and the types of heater are set side by side on the chicken coop heater home page.