Can I baby chickens go outside?

[s678865567]

I live in the central part of Arkansas. I have 50 or so baby pullets who came from a local hatchery. They are 5-8 (a few might be 4) weeks old. I had them inside the house and then made up a super nice 10x20 pen outside with tarps for the roof, sides, etc... I put them in it. I had 3 heat lamps going. One night, they acted cold and hovered under the heat lamps kinda whimpering. We moved them to a smaller but more insulated space that very night because they acted so cold. They seem fine where they are and they don't cuddle like they are cold but they are crowded. I need to move them back to the bigger space but I am worried because we are going to have freezing temperatures next week. With heat lamps, are they going to be ok? The floor is concrete. The roof and sides are tarps. I know the chart and I know they need 75 degrees or so. Will they be getting that with the heat lamps?

 

[neo71665]

I would keep them in a brooder till they have feathers under the heat lamp.

What local hatchery you talking about? I'm just south of crime bluff and wasn't aware of any.

 

[FC16]

Do you know roughly what temperature it’s going to be?
By 5-8 weeks old they should be mostly feathered out, as long as there’s no drafts they should be fine

 

[neo71665]

Do you know roughly what temperature it’s going to be?
By 5-8 weeks old they should be mostly feathered out, as long as there’s no drafts they should be fine

Lows in th high 30s last I checked. Daytime highs in the upper 50s. The way things been here lately thats likley to change by the day or even hour.

 

[FC16]

Lows in th high 30s last I checked.

That’s not too bad, are they fully feathered?

 

[HollowOfWisps]

At 5-8 weeks they should be fully weaned if not almost weaned off of heat and fine outside.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

Do you have pictures of the chicks and the setup? They should be outside by now and at least started weaning off the heat

 

[s678865567]

I would keep them in a brooder till they have feathers under the heat lamp.

What local hatchery you talking about? I'm just south of crime bluff and wasn't aware of any.

By local, I meant one is Texas. I guess it's not really local but it's the closet one to me. It's called Ideal and they ship them. What do you mean by they have feathers? They have feathers but not a huge amount. At what age will they have feathers?

 

[neo71665]

By local, I meant one is Texas. I guess it's not really local but it's the closet one to me. It's called Ideal and they ship them. What do you mean by they have feathers? They have feathers but not a huge amount. At what age will they have feathers?

I gotcha about Ideal, just thought there might have been one opened here near us I didn't know about.

By feathers I mean they have lost all their baby chick fluff. The 8 week old ones should be fine outside. The 4/5 week ones the feathers should just be starting. I would baby them a bit longer. The way I understand the cold snap hitting us is only supposed to be for a few days anyways.