Can these little guys go outside

[Kentucky Fan]

It's been a few weeks, just really curious if/when you moved them outside??? I have 3 week olds that I'm moving out today and it's supposed to get down to *30. I'm using a MHP, heating pad. I actually don't usually keep them in my she shed for longer than 2 weeks but it's been really cold and they're different ages (2 weeks and 3 weeks.) I guess my question is, did you use a plate and a heat lamp or just a plate?

I moved them out the following week I have a plate and lamp out there. I built them a 4’x8’ enclosure separate from the big chickens with cage cloth walls so they can see each other. It is 4’ tall as well.

It has gotten down to the mid twenties a couple times sense then with no ill effects. I would lose the heat plate but my runt marans still uses it so I’m not gonna take it away till she doesn’t anymore. I’m actually gonna put them a roost bar in there Saturday and start moving them to the main flock as they start roosting and stop using the lamp.

 

[Kentucky Fan]

Just to add the first cold night I went out with an infrared thermometer and checked the temp every couple of hours just to make sure. The center of the hot spot never got below 80

 

[SandyRiverChick]

I moved them out the following week I have a plate and lamp out there. I built them a 4’x8’ enclosure separate from the big chickens with cage cloth walls so they can see each other. It is 4’ tall as well.

It has gotten down to the mid twenties a couple times sense then with no ill effects. I would lose the heat plate but my runt marans still uses it so I’m not gonna take it away till she doesn’t anymore. I’m actually gonna put them a roost bar in there Saturday and start moving them to the main flock as they start roosting and stop using the lamp.

Awesome!! Great job. I really don't know why I'm nervous as I've always moved them out there as babies and I have a walk in room for them where they can see the bigs through hardware cloth. I've never had speckled sussex chicks before and that is my littlest, so tiny still. I'll probably do the same and check on them tonight as well as set up a camera. Thanks for the encouragement!

 

[Kentucky Fan]

Awesome!! Great job. I really don't know why I'm nervous as I've always moved them out there as babies and I have a walk in room for them where they can see the bigs through hardware cloth. I've never had speckled sussex chicks before and that is my littlest, so tiny still. I'll probably do the same and check on them tonight as well as set up a camera. Thanks for the encouragement!

You’re welcome

 

[pdnarus10]

View attachment 3755560

2 weeks old a mixture of barred rocks marans and two heritage turkey poults. There are ten in total three of the barred rocks are older than the rest as far as I can tell the rest of them are well represented by the chick roosting on the brooder plate. I brood them in my guest bathroom tub but this crew is getting out and making quite the mess. My plan is to put their brooder plate outside in a separate enclosure I am going to build in the main coop. The lowest temperature for the next week appears to be about 28f at night with days in the 60s. Does the braintrust think these guys can make the move or should I wait?

I think 2 weeks old is too early. They have to be fully feathered for that low of temperatures. I had mine in the basement for7 weeks. I used large Walmart boxes that you assemble and clipped them together. Cut out little openings like tunnels to go back-and-forth in between each one. Put some wooden bars in for them to roost. I added two seventy five watt red heat lamps.( Reptile) and a small lamp for light along w the room light. I turned the regular lights off at night. But kept the heat lamps on so that the temperature gradually went down from 85 to 70. That's when I moved them outside And only used the heat plate when it went below sixty.

 

[pdnarus10]

I think 2 weeks old is too early. They have to be fully feathered for that low of temperatures. I had mine in the basement for7 weeks. I used large Walmart boxes that you assemble and clipped them together. Cut out little openings like tunnels to go back-and-forth in between each one. Put some wooden bars in for them to roost. I added two seventy five watt red heat lamps.( Reptile) and a small lamp for light along w the room light. I turned the regular lights off at night. But kept the heat lamps on so that the temperature gradually went down from 85 to 70. That's when I moved them outside And only used the heat plate when it went below sixty.

I should have added that I had hardware cloth stapled to 2 boards overtop the boxes To keep them from flying out LO. L

 

[NatJ]

I think 2 weeks old is too early. They have to be fully feathered for that low of temperatures.

If they have no heat source, you would be correct. But OP was talking about providing supplemental heat (brooder plate and/or heat lamp).

Chicks of any age can be outside if they have an appropriate heat source. Some people raise chicks in outside brooders from the first day, and plenty of people raise chicks outdoors with a broody hen (the hen is the source of heat then.)

In this case, as I read the rest of the thread, I see that the OP did wait a bit, then put the chicks outside with supplemental heat:

I moved them out the following week I have a plate and lamp out there....
It has gotten down to the mid twenties a couple times sense then with no ill effects.

Just to add the first cold night I went out with an infrared thermometer and checked the temp every couple of hours just to make sure. The center of the hot spot never got below 80

If the chicks had a warm spot at 80 degrees, they would not care if the outdoor temperatures were down into the mid twenties, because they did not have to stay at that cold temperature.

 

[Kentucky Fan]

If they have no heat source, you would be correct. But OP was talking about providing supplemental heat (brooder plate and/or heat lamp).

Chicks of any age can be outside if they have an appropriate heat source. Some people raise chicks in outside brooders from the first day, and plenty of people raise chicks outdoors with a broody hen (the hen is the source of heat then.)

In this case, as I read the rest of the thread, I see that the OP did wait a bit, then put the chicks outside with supplemental heat:


If the chicks had a warm spot at 80 degrees, they would not care if the outdoor temperatures were down into the mid twenties, because they did not have to stay at that cold temperature.

Yes I waited a bit and put them out there with a lamp and plate they did great I just have one runt and lost one turkey that went native and decided he wanted to be wild. Neither of those can be attributed to going outside that early lol.