24 - 5 week old chicks - do they need heat still?

[happyhensny]

During the day the temps have ranged in the 70 - 80's, no problem. At night they go down to 50's. At night they are in a small brooder tractor, locked up in the house part (about 3 ft square), not drafty. I never had chicks this time of year so I'm not sure what they should be at at this point.

Thanks!

 

[taylorgirl6]

I've been told they need to develop neck feathers before they can handle those low night temps. Mine are also five weeks old, and I'm waiting at least two more weeks before they go into the coop.

 

[happyhensny]

Thanks! 2 more weeks I can handle. The coop is about 20 ft from my back door, the rest of the flock is about 75 ft away. I don't want to have to run the BIG lead cord already!

 

[HEChicken]

If this helps....I purchased 7 chicks that consisted of 3 who were a month old and 4 who were a week old on the date of purchase. The first week they were all inside but when I got home from work I would take them outside to a little run for a few hours for some outside time. One night it seemed so warm I decided to see how they would do spending the night in the coop. Next morning they bounced out happy as could be. So the next night, I put them back in the coop. Skip forward a few days and we had a cold spell. This was about their 4th or 5th night outside (at this point the older ones were 5-6 weeks old and the younger ones about 2 weeks old). Around 11pm I noticed on our satellite thermometer that the temp had gone below 60 degrees. I was concerned about them and decided I'd better at least bring in the the four little ones. So out I went in the dark with my cat carrier and a flashlight. I found three little ones and put them in the carrier, but couldn't find the fourth. Eventually I turned on the flashlight and discovered that the fourth was sleeping under the wing of one of the 5-week-olds (just like it was its mother!). I pulled it out but it was warm as toast. At that point I realized they were all doing just fine, put the 3 back in, closed the coop door and went back to bed. We had several days in a row that reached unseasonably low temps at night and all 7 of them thrived throughout.

 

[JewellFarm]

I have some in a pen together that range from about 3 weeks to 6 weeks. They have been out for about a week now with no light. All seem to be just as happy as can be and doing just fine.

 

[shaggy]

the way i understood it was day-old chicks need 95 degree's ... decrease by 5 degrees every week

so .... 95 - (x5) = y ... in this case x = 5 weeks

95 - 25 - 70 degrees .... got to make sure the temp doesn't drop below 70

 

[Judy]

I found mine did not like it as warm as the recommendations, which would be 70 now. You might see how they do without heat at night; you would need to check their behavior for a night or two.

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
I agree. My chicks were handling temps. in the 60s at 5 weeks old.