39 degrees for 7 weekers?

[Chickens on the Fly]

I have 6 chickens - my first flock! They are in a large playpen in my family room and getting rowdy and restless (and a little stinky). I'd like to put them outside in their coop overnight, but the temperature in there has been down to 39. Is that too cold? They've been spending several hours per day outside but the daytime temps have been in the 50s and 60s.

Thanks!

 

[snood dude]

are they fully feathered

 

[Ascholten]

If they got their feathers and you can keep the breeze / draft / winds off them, they should be ok. It would not hurt to put a heat source in there too if you can. What I have done is taken an old sheet, or in my case, coffee bean burlap sacks and covered the openings to help keep the heat in, then come morning time, remove the covering from the windows etc once the temp comes back up a bit again.

The heat source could also be a small heater on the outside, blowing warm air into the inside. just remember if you put ANY sort of hot something in there, make sure they won't knock it over or start a fire with it. At one time I used to have a light bulb way up in a corner but one of the dunces managed to break the bulb one night jumping up onto the roost, so ... so much for that idea. Just remember if there's a way to break it, they'll find a way.

The temp is not too terrible of an issue but the wind is your greatest concern right now. IF it's a calm still night they can keep warm,but if it's windy and howling through every tiny crack in there, not so much.

Aaron

 

[Chickens on the Fly]

are they fully feathered

I think so. This was a week ago. They have just a few fluffs on their necks.

 

[snood dude]

I think so. This was a week ago. They have just a few flights on their necks.
View attachment 2583111

They should be just fine.

 

[rosemarythyme]

7 week olds should be outside. You're amazingly tolerant to keep them in this long.

If they're not completely off heat, you should wean them off heat first so work on that this week. And continue with the outings, increasing in time each day, and then they should be ready to go by end of the week.

 

[Chickens on the Fly]

UPDATE! They successfully spent the night in the coop! They were really confused at dusk and didn't know where to go. I had put their little brooder roost in the coop, hoping they'd know what to do, but they weren't interested in going in. I had to wrangle them and pretty much push them in and close the door. I peeked in about an hour later and they were up on their little roost. This morning the coop temp was 44. They were awake and ready to go explore a new day.

Thanks for the confidence boost I needed in getting them out.