when to move outdoors

[ckelley]

I just read about the wool hen thanks to you guys. Thanks!!

I have a heated cat bed I think I might use in conjunction with this. It stays at 90. I have a Bresna radiant heater, the small one. My chicks out grew it by week two- so this will be a great option.

 

[EasterEggDrew]

Here's the thing about chickens and cold. As long as they have feathers covering their backs, sides and breast, they can handle cold. However, abrupt exposure to temperature changes is what gets chickens into trouble. They benefit from gradual acclimatizing.

The most convenient way to do this with baby chicks is to take them outdoors on day trips to their run several days to a week before you move them into the coop to sleep.

The trouble here, at the moment, is that our days are mid-70's to mid-80's, and our nights are dropping to mid-40's. So, I suspect it's going to be an abrupt exposure alone in the coop on that first night, despite my taking them outside with me many warm days.

 

[Mrs. K]

Chicks are very delicate the first few days, once a week old, the ones that are going to live, generally do. Outside is really best for chicks... really much better than too close of a confinement where people think they can keep them safe. They get better air in more space, they get exposed to temperatures that make for good feathers outside.

Too often, we think we are being kind and careful, when in reality we are putting them at a disadvantage.

Mrs K

 

[Little Fuzzy]

Just put out a heat lamp for them and block drafts with plastic. Although 4 wks seems young to go outside in cold weather.

 

[Blooie]

Just put out a heat lamp for them and block drafts with plastic. Although 4 wks seems young to go outside in cold weather.

Here are mine at 3 days.....their brooder pen was out in the run and it was 25 degrees. I think it depends a lot on your setup and how early you begin to acclimate them. Chicks who have had continuous heat (and light 24/7) will absolutely need a chance to get used to colder temperatures and natural day/night cycles, and that always needs to be taken very seriously. I have now raised 6 batches of chicks outside in the run with just a heating pad cave, in full view of the adults, and even just a day or so out of the incubator. I can honestly say I will never ever brood chicks any other way. Never lost one, never had one get sick, and never had an adult injure one. But again, for chicks not raised this way from the get-go, acclimation is a must!


Just a few days old, and nighttime temps in the teens and twenties, with some snowstorms tossed in for good measure. They know when they should stop exploring and go get warmed up, just as they do with a broody hen. This is a batch of chicks from last year.


Same chicks out with the adults in the yard at only 4 weeks old. We had total integration by then,and notice how fully feathered and robust they are in size. By then it was warming up outside - spring in Northern Wyoming was finally arriving and our nighttime temps were hovering in the upper 30s, low 40s.

This is a batch of this year's chicks. In the video you'll notice I refer to one little White Orpington chick who "almost died." That little stinker found the tiniest gap (immediately repaired, by the way) and was found lifeless behind the feeder in the main run hours later. I thought sure she was dead...she certainly seemed to be. Her eyes were closed, her legs and neck stretched out,and she was stiff and ice cold.The adults never bothered her little body. Once I thought I detected a bit of life I snatched her up, ran in the house with her, and stuck her in the incubator with some eggs due to hatch later in the week. She revived, survived, and was back out in the run with the others the very next day. She is a beautiful, big Orpington who is now beginning to be one of my best layers. We named her Phoenix. Just goes to show you that ya never know.

I've read stories on here over and over again about chicks who have done the exact same thing, even kept in a brooder indoors under a heat lamp. It just depends on what they have been acclimated to, and how strong they are.

 

[EasterEggDrew]

Well, it took some convincing to get them to huddle in this little cozy barrel I made for them, rather than just pile in a corner, but they seem to be getting the idea, now. Here is how they will spend night 1 outdoors, at 45F. Four birds at five weeks of age.

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[aim0474]

I am wondering if I should do this for mine the first week. I can take out one of the roosting bars and build them a cave in the corner. They would still have the other bar if they wanted it.

 

[EasterEggDrew]

Mine seemed no worse for the wear at 45F this morning. Left the window on the coop closed, as it's still in the shadow of my barn, but will open as the sun comes around later. Right now, only ventilation is two 4" diameter holes in roof, but that will change today.


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[carlf]

Quote:
Move the coop out of the shop. Given the complicated airways of birds, they are more sensitive to chemical than we are, you want peeps in a shop full of solvent fumes.
If they are feathered, they will be fine.

 

[EasterEggDrew]

Already out in the fresh air!


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