4 and 5 week old chicks need heat still?

[Blooie]

What I do is turn off the heating pad at around four weeks. And my temps are much colder than yours, 50s during the day and 30s at night. The chicks continue to sleep in the heating pad cave for a few nights in the coop without it being turned on. Fully feathers chicks do not need heat, unless it's waaay below freezing. I brood my chicks right outside in the run, by the way, so they've already been acclimatized to cold temps.

MHP transitions them to sleeping in the coop, and after they've become accustomed to the coop as home and have learned how to go in at night from their run, I then teach them how to roost. Usually by six weeks they've got that wired.

You do need wood shavings or straw in the coop. It cushions their dismount from the perches and prevents feet injuries. It also absorbs poop so they aren't slipping and sliding around in the stuff.

YES YES SO YES!!!

 

[peeper89]

them look good!

 

[OCeggs23]

Thank you everyone!! We plan to make the little holes bigger - maybe in a few more weeks when we are officially in spring and they are even more feathered in.

Thanks for the explaination between adequate ventilation and draftiness! I've had a difficult time wrapping my head around it in regards to the chicks.
We don't have to worry about snow, but the area the coop is in is behind our garage. Then after that is our back fence with the coop between the two. So it can create kind of a wind tunnel back there under windy/stormy circumstances. We figure we can slide the peek-a-boo window (above the nesting box) closed under really windy circumstances...?

So on the bottom of our coop we had wood shavings and just today cleaned it out and filled the bottom (it's a tray that slides out) with Sweet PDZ. It's used in horse stalls and such and there was a brilliant thread in the Coop section of BYC that talked about using it in the coop. It's a fine powder but doesn't fly around a bunch... like powdered suger. So there's a couple inches of that on the floor. Should I still add wood shavings?

I just went and checked on the girls. They are sleeping together in a pile in the nesting box! Should I move them to the roosts or leave them be?

 

[azygous]

"I just went and checked on the girls. They are sleeping together in a pile in the nesting box! Should I move them to the roosts or leave them be?"


This is a natural transition for chicks moving into a coop.

Mine wanted to do that, too. But for once, my brain was smarter than a chicken's and I got an old cat napping pod and stuck it in the nest. The chicks happily took to it.

I let them sleep in it for another several days, and then began teaching them to roost.

The cat pod changes the nature of the nest box so they don't imprint on how cozy a nest box is to sleep in, raising the likelihood of them later wanting to get into the habit of using a nest box to sleep in, making a poopy mess for you to clean off your eggs. After I take the cat pod out, the nest then reverts to its proper function in their tiny minds.

After they learned to roost, I put the cat pod in the run and they used it to lounge in during the day. Are they cute, or what?

 

[Blooie]

One of the other reasons chicks huddle a lot, besides staying warm and because they are used to it, is for security. That's a great big scary world out there and all the strange noises, sights, the progression of day-to-night, even the amount of space around them, can really upset their apple cart. Chickens don't do change well! If you toss a big box or something out in the coop, the first thing the adults will do is run like their hiney feathers are on fire as far away from that alien as they can, squawking the whole way. They'll gather in a tight group and stare at it in confusion. Then one or two will start yelling at it - like that's going to make it go away. Eventually one of them draws the short straw and is "assigned" to investigate. Once he or she checks it out and realizes it's harmless, the others will break up the chicken-knot and join the investigation. Once they all know it's safe, they're fine. Chicks are no different. So huddling, in addition to the obvious reasons, is just as much for security as anything else.

As @azygous saId, there are ways to ease them into this transition time. Oh, and don't let her fool ya - her brain is always smarter than a chicken's! I wouldn't have nearly as easy a time of integrating chicks if she hadn't shown how to make portal doors!!!

 

[Zoomie]

I have nothing to add to this thread, but, @azygous that is *adorable*. What a great idea!

 

[OCeggs23]

That cat pod is awesome! I think I need to get me one of those!!

So when they were in the brooder I had a stuffed animal in there that was a reject from my son's bedroom. I put the stuffed animal on the white wire shelving last night and although when I went to bed they were in the nest box, this morning they were all on top of the stuffed animal. LOL
Strangely enough, my husband was the one worried all night about the welfare of the chicks. He's persuaded me to put the heating pad in there just for another week or so, on low, "just in case."

But I think I'll show him the cat pod...