Is it safe to go outside?

[Stef82]

I have 9 chicks that are 6 weeks old going on 7 weeks and I'd love for them to go outside, but the temps are in the 20s at night and 30s during the day. I have no eletricity outside so a heat lamp is out of the question. Will it be too cold for them to be placed outside?

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

What I do in those temps is to start weaning them. I do give heat longer than 6 weeks when the temps are so low. So if you are using a 250 or 150 watt, just go down to 100. Then after a few days, go down to a 75 or 60. Then you might leave them on that for just a bit...I give heat at least a couple months for those temps.

Then turn off light in brooder altogether, letting them feel the cooler temp. Then when they go out, make sure the coop is draft free (airflow above their heads but not right on them). You might even take them back inside the brooder at night, depending on how much you feel they are suffering. I have removed chicks from a coop outside when we had an extreme cold snap for they would have died. Go with your gut.

They don't have the meat on their bones yet even though they may have all the feathers. Since you have 9 of them they can huddle together some but it does also depend on what kind of coop you have. If it is a rabbit hutch with no solid walls then they might die. If it is an insulated shed coop then they should be OK with the wean I mentioned but I tell you, it depends on humidity and the microclimate around your coop. So if you go with your gut I would say that would be best. (We get a nasty freezing fog here that can make a human freeze to death even when it is above freezing.)

It is March and part of the country has had nice warm temps. We have had a cold March so far. It feels more like February to me.