HOT weather for adolescent chicks?

[HotDesertChick]

My coop/run is still grossly behind "schedule", and I may have to move young Chix from a brooder area to the very hot "outside".

I have wanted to order chicks mail-order, but I am totally resigned to NOT buying any babies until the coop is well underway. I plan to set up a brooder in our garage which has pretty even temperatures. Stays around 70-80 year 'round.

If I buy chicks a month away, I will have to move the kids from the even temps within the garage, to the outside coop which could easily be 100 degrees for daytime temps.

Because of our fairly high desert location the night-time temps always go down to around 60 degrees max, regardless of any torrid daytime extremes. Our hottest weather kicks in in late May-thru-June, until our Monsoon Season lowers the temps, and raises the humidity (a little).

Will "teen-age chickens" be able to handle the transition from the garage, to triple-digit daytime temps? I don't want to loose my Kids.

Can they make the "transition".........?

Thanks..

 

[Judy]

I would try to acclimate them first by having them spend short periods in both areas.

If raised outdoors, chicks will probably tolerate 60 degree nights at 4 weeks, and certainly will at 6 weeks. What will be hard for any of them to tolerate is the 100 degrees, which will no doubt be harder on day olds than older ones, although for any chicken, 100 is about their upper limit. They will at a minimum require lots of breeze, good shade, and of course, plenty of water. We rarely touch 100, and only for an hour or two if we do, but I run a box fan all year, in a coop that is so comfortable that they choose it over wide, tall bushes in the hottest part of the day.

I don't know how much help that is, but anyway, good luck!

 

[HotDesertChick]

Thanks, much,...Judy for your input. I agree that feathered-out "teenagers" should be able to handle the night time temps fine. Yes,..Double Yes,...I am concerned with the daytime triple-digit heat.

I have never reared chickens in arid/hot southern NM, but I did do O.K. with chicks in other states. Including steamy coastal GA (where we lived, before migrating to de desert). BUT,... I did NOT try mail-order chicks in GA. Only bought adult bantams & guineas there, so never learned a blinkin' thing about playing Mum Hen in a hot summer clime. The mature chix and guineas were the pros. And they did a good job. Great Mamas!

Box fans were popular in horse barns where we lived in GA (halfway between Savannah & Jacksonville, FL). I had tons of flow-through air circulation in my tall/open horse barn. Did not use "stall fans" though.

I DO appreciate your comments about setting up a box fan. My future 10 x 14 foot coop is designed with good "flow-through air" (including a big box stall window from the present barn wall as well). Coop will be an attached structure to an existing horse barn. I have immediate access to a big electrical panel box that supplies the barn/other uses, but I do kinda worry about leaving a box fan on/operating 24/7, even with good circuit breakers. Call me cowardly, when it comes to "leaving electrical units running".

You certainly Upped my spirits, Judy.

I would feel awful, if I "cook the kids"..........

Truly.

 

[Judy]

You certainly Upped my spirits, Judy.

I would feel awful, if I "cook the kids"..........

Truly.

I'm glad!

(I fixed my typos -- sorry!)