…that was my question.

Turns out, a lot of people have that same question, and as with armpits and bodily orifices, there are many differing opinions on the matter.

What I’ve done so far is this:  when I noticed the chickens huddling more to sleep, I put the brooder heat lamp outside the chicken door to the coop.  It shines some heat inside, some outside.  My logic (such as it is) is that they’re birds – birds have feathers and monster body heat.  But maybe just a little something near the feeder would be nice for them.

Then this morning, I get up and the water bucket thing is frozen solid, and it made me start googling again.  I found this thread on the BackYard Chicken forum, but like I said, it’s all opinion.

In the end, I’ll probably just end up leaving it as is.  I may move the light out a bit more, put the water bucket thing under it and see if that helps.  But if I block the light too much, where will the cats hang out??

As a side note, as I was googling for images of cold chickens, I came across this one:

Click it to see where it’s from – a coffee place in the San Joaquin Valley.  It sounds like a fantastic drink, and what a great name for it.  Makes me wish I lived anywhere near there.  Or at least could visit.