I'm with you. I'm still pretty new to this Chicken Farming. I am in West Va and the temps don't usually go below 20 degrees but I prefer to keep my chicken comfortable... why make them suffer if they don't need to. I have one 250 watt heat lamp in our coop, which is 10 x 10, however I won't turn it on until under 40 degrees. 12 chickens plus a rooster put off quite a bit of heat themselves. And I HOPE I'm doing things right cuz I love my chickens!
Lydia, I'm in WV too and I agree with the last two posts. If you love your chickens you'll turn off that heat lamp. They aren't suffering..God has given them a wonderful, downy coat that keeps them quite warm and it's sort of like your mother telling you to put on a sweater because SHE is cold...it makes no sense to heat your birds and cause them to become ill simply because you think it's cold outside.
Keep it up and you will eventually be dealing with sick chickens and possibly dead ones. That's not love....