10 weeks old and outside temps

[Cheryl]

I have been told I need to keep the coop at 55 from a local chicken farmer because of the young age. They are still inside, though they need to be outside! It is 27 here today and very windy...

 

[DoctorGoose]

I have some 8-week old chicks. They are outside, lol, and it snowed today! I have them in a tiny little rabbit hutch with a heat lamp; but they can go downstairs if they want.

They seem to be fine. I do have the mesh-part covered with a bit of tarp, though, so it's not wet or windy in there. I so also give them some scratch with their chick food. Keeps their body temps up..

 

[AtRendeAcres]

I have 7wk olds outside & it snowed here last week

as soon as they are fully feather I let them out (from noon till 4pm this seems to be the warmer part of the day) by that time they have been weened off heat lamp!

 

[Cheryl]

This farmer's thoughts were they couldn't handle less than 55 through the night. The coop is insulated, but still needs the egg doors to be placed. Right now we shoved a piece of styrofoam insulation in the gap to keep out the rotten weather...it was 32 in the coop when it was 27 outside...that seems a bit cold?

 

[seminolewind]

My 10 week olds were NOT happy with the temp below 50. I live in central Florida, and we had some cool nights, but warm days.

 

[allen wranch]

Cheryl,
Do you put anything over the styrofoam to secure it to the wall ? Predators can easily tear styrofoam to get into the coop.

 

[Cheryl]

Thank you for the concern...the chickens aren't even in the coop yet!!! The egg doors are sitting in their frame on my dining room table waiting to be installed! The coop itself has ship lap on the outside, styrofoam insulation in the middle, then plywood on a 2" x 4" frame! My five chickens are worth over $200 each at this point! DH has been building a very pretty coop with the help of my high school carpentry program. The stryofoam in the opening was put there to keep last nights snow out! I will go out and take a couple of pictures and as soon as I can figure it out, make a personal page... not much luck as yet!

 

[hinkjc]

Cheryl..your farmer friend is right. Because your chickens have not had time to acclimate to the temperature change, they will likely be shocked. I would use a heat lamp outdoors and gradully raise it each week until they can handle the lower temps.

Jody

 

[Cheryl]

This is the coop, DH will be happy to hear his chicken friends advice is correct!

 

[hinkjc]

Cheryl, that's a nice little coop. If you don't have room to raise the heat lamp, you can try a lower wattage bulb as well. Sometimes a 100 watt is enough to take the chill off of them.

If your window is glass, be sure to cover it with wire on the inside of the coop. This way if it gets accidentally broken, big shards of glass won't be inside on the floor. What is the bluish thing on the side wall?

Jody