First Night in the Coop...Tonight? - Page 4

Kudos to you for trying it on for size!    It's hard to trust the voice of others when you don't want to fail and don't want to harm another creature in your attempts to learn.  In the end, the best learned lessons are those that one applies and you did it...and now you can maybe trust yourself to try other things of that nature. 

Like folks who have small house dogs and swear that it is just too cold for these little dogs to live outdoors...but many small breeds were bred for hunting and were often housed outdoors back in the day.  They will grow the appropriate fur coat to tolerate their environment most times if left alone to do so...my sister finally learned this about Boston Terriers.  She always imagined their thin fur coat could not tolerate outdoor living until it was necessary for hers to live outdoors and found they thrived in their natural setting and didn't seem to mind the cold at all, and were happy and healthier for the change. 

This thread has been very helpful.  Thanks to all who responded and to the person who started it.  We are raising our first chickens, 4 Buff Orphingtons.  They are awesome.  They are 3-4 weeks old and we have had their coop built since we got them.  I was thinking we needed to wait to move them outside, but after all the advice here, I think they will be moving out today.  Funny how nervous you get, not wanting to do the wrong thing and wanting to be successful.  We live in Mid MO and we are having a very warm spring, 90 today.  Then a cool down back to the 70's.  I think they need the room, to grow, explore and just learn to be happy chickens.  So out to the coop they are going.  Thanks for all the advice.

We moved our six 5 week old chicks out of the basement & into the coop yesterday (will the smell in the basement ever go away ??  LOL)

Was below freezing last night,  but hubby has them geared up with TWO heat lights.  Their portion of the coop is only about 4X5.  Four of them were huddled under the light this morning and 2 of them were running around.

Would love to have them with our 2 older laying hens & rooster for more body heat,  but not sure how that would work. 

I have a questions for raising chickens in general and them being outside in the cold winter months. If start raising chickens in the summer time while it's warm, they start living outside in the coop around July and are out there from then on, would you or wouldn't you bother with a heat lamp in the winter months? Like some have said, what would the mother hen or any chicken do on their own if they were on their own. Would they not survive winter? Is it really necessary for me to keep the coop heated if I start raising cold hardy birds in the summer? Will they get used to the colder weather as it comes? 

If you are talking about having adult hens during the wintertime, then there is no need to worry.  Chickens have feathers and down to keep them warm.  I have two windows in my coop and I don't even shut them during the wintertime and I have never lost a chicken yet or even have one get sick.  I practice the deep liter method which allows them to burrow in the litter during the day to stay warm if necessary but they roost at night and are perfectly fine.

I've had a few free ranging chickens that sleep on top of our coop at night too and they have never had an issue with the weather.  These are animals not humans so they don't experience the cold like humans do.  It's a tough mentality to break though, which is thinking we need to heat our chickens like humans need to be heated, but I think it causes more problems than just letting them adapt to the seasonal changes naturally.

If you are talking about raising chicks in the wintertime, then that is a whole different story, but for fully feathered hens, you will not have any issues.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lynzi777 

I have a questions for raising chickens in general and them being outside in the cold winter months. If start raising chickens in the summer time while it's warm, they start living outside in the coop around July and are out there from then on, would you or wouldn't you bother with a heat lamp in the winter months? Like some have said, what would the mother hen or any chicken do on their own if they were on their own. Would they not survive winter? Is it really necessary for me to keep the coop heated if I start raising cold hardy birds in the summer? Will they get used to the colder weather as it comes? 

Awesome! Thanks so much! I definitely don't want them getting used to having heat all the time, which is why I want to start out in June so that by the time they are hens they will be used to weather as it gets colder and colder from November into Jan-February. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lynzi777 

Awesome! Thanks so much! I definitely don't want them getting used to having heat all the time, which is why I want to start out in June so that by the time they are hens they will be used to weather as it gets colder and colder from November into Jan-February. 

I'm in upstate NY also and I never use heat lamps for any of my chickens, even the leghorns. They all have done fine, even the winter before this one where it was minus double digits for long stretches. I also had bantams then and no problems either. It was 21 this morning and my fully feathered 6 weekers were just fine, so no worries as long as they have their feathers!

Our chicks and a duckling (ages 5-7 wks) have been outside for 2 weeks now.  The chicks are different breeds and difference ages so consequently they are different sizes.  The 8 chicks have used the duckling as a substitute mother hen - getting up under her for warmth.  The tractor and coop do not have heat.  I had a heat lamp on the chicks/duckling when they were brandy new in the garage.  And all night long, they moved and squirmed and just didn't EVER settle into a good sleep.  In my thinking, I just can't see how a heat lamp  is beneficial if it keeps the birds awake.  Baby anything needs sleep!  As they came to be around 3 weeks old, I turned the lamp off.  THEY ALL settled down into a nice nightly sleep.  I quit with the heat lamp all together.  I opted for the steady good night's sleep.  Then I moved them into the tractor. They continued to huddle around the duckling who is getting a lot bigger a lot quicker than the chicks.  The duckling was getting tired of being used as a blanket - she'd push them away.  I have since separated them.  Ducky is in the tractor outside.  Chicks are in a dog kennel inside the coop with the big birds.  Weather gets right chilly at night.  They seem fine.  You can see them on the web cams in my link below.

I love this website! LOL I was really starting to think, "Ugh, am I really going to have to run an extension cord out there?!?" But with any animal that naturally lives outdoors I always go back and I'm like well what on earth would it do on its own in the wildlife?!? So it makes sense to NOT have them reliant on that comfort of having heat. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lynzi777 

I love this website! LOL I was really starting to think, "Ugh, am I really going to have to run an extension cord out there?!?" But with any animal that naturally lives outdoors I always go back and I'm like well what on earth would it do on its own in the wildlife?!? So it makes sense to NOT have them reliant on that comfort of having heat. 

We have members from alaska on here and every winter they get to tell everyone how it's 30 below and there's no heat lamp. :P I think someone did put one out when it hit 40 or 50 below, but could be wrong on that. :) Worst I have had so far was a little frostbite on my white leghorns - it healed up fine. 

Now, you might want an extension cord for the water - I made DH run power to my coops so I can use heated dog bowls in the winter. However, there are non power ways as well, I am just lazy. :)