6.5 weeks upper 20’s temp heating mat/pad use question

[Magnolia76]

I live in SD it’s very unpredictable weather. My chicks turned 6 weeks today. They had been living in my bathroom up until 5.5 weeks (This past weekend ) When I had to move them out because they were flying all over the place and just tired of being in there. The weather seemed ok. It got into mid 40s at night. I cannot put a heat lamp the risk of fire is too high here. I also just oppose the idea of heat in general as I want them acclimated to where we live. However they are not fully grown right now. They have been fine this week I touch them while they sleep on the roost and they feel warm. They have been playing in the run in the 50s for the 4 days they’ve been out of the bathroom. But…..suddenly the forecast shows it’s going to be in the upper 20s as the low this weekend and upper 40s as the high! I’m about to break my own plan and go get a heated mat in the poultry section at the store. I believe that is considered safe as far as fire hazard? I don’t know if they can naturally handle upper 20s having only been exposed to 40-60 for a week!? What do y’all think do I need a mat? And what is the best way to use it do I just hang it on the wall or put it on the ground. They sleep on the 2x4s. Here’s a pic from 4 days ago. Everything is sealed in really good with weatherstripping and caulk except at the ceiling where it’s vented (I added more vents that you can’t see in the picture). Best way to use the heated mat or should I stick with my plan of leaving them be being that I’m on the team of no heat in coop… (but unfair to do to babies though!?)

 

[DobieLover]

They don't need a heat source at all.
They are fully feathered and will be absolutely fine in those temperatures. Relax!
Regardless of what ventilation you do have in that coop it sounds like it's way too tight and needs a lot more ventilation.
The general rule of thumb around here is 1 sq ft of permanent ventilation per bird in the coop. That's almost always impossible to achieve. However, what the takeaway message should be is lots and lots of ventilation in the coop.
Does your run have a solid roof on it? If so I strongly advise that you move the food and water out there. It's taking up a lot of valuable real estate inside the coop. It's also much easier to keep the coop clean if the food and water are outside in the run.

 

[Blooie]

I‘m in Northwestern Wyoming not too far from Yellowstone Park. This is my coop and hoop run in winter. We can get wind gusts of up to 90mph, (unusual but has happened) with 60mph being our more normal gust speeds. I do not insulate my coop, nor do I heat it. I have operable windows on all but the north side of the coop. They are always open at least a crack on the downweather side. I also used floor vents, the kind used for forced air heating in our homes, on the upper walls on all four sides. They are also usually in the open position except on whicjever side bad weather is blowing in from. The gable vent above the people door is always open, as is their pop door into the plastic covered run. This has been my setup for the past 8 years. I’ve never lost a chicken to cold, nor had a case of frostbite. Even my Silkies do very well. A small, rated-for-plastic stock tank heater in a 5 gallon bucket fitted with horizontal nipples provides a steady supply of unfrozen water.

i raise my chicks outdoors from the start in a wire brooder pen in the run, even when our springtime “chick season” temperatures are in the twenties, dipping into the teens. I detest heat lamps too, so they use Mama Heating Pad as their heat source. In fact, it’s supposed to get down to the same temps you’re going to experience this weekend, and I have chicks out there right now. Three of them are 2 weeks old, the other 8 are a week old. They’ll be fine. They’ve already acclimated.

I evicted my first indoor, heat lamp raised chicks at 5.5 weeks. That was April 1, 2014. That night the temperature dropped to 18 degrees. The first two days they had a heat lamp, but those 2 nights when I went out to check them they weren’t anywhere near it. They were sleeping in a comfy pile in front of the pop door. The third day, April 3rd, I took it out, and it snowed hard with high winds that night. We got our last snowfall on June 6th. That’s when I realized that THEY didn’t need those arbitrary temperatures - my own peace of mind and the “experts” did. Done and done.

I grew up in South Dakota. I know how unpredictable spring is there, just as it is here. I think your chicks will be just fine. Temporary dips in temperatures are different than trying to contend with the long months of deep winter. They can cope with both quite well, but we, on the other hand, can worry ourselves into quite a state!

 

[Magnolia76]

View attachment 3114579
I‘m in Northwestern Wyoming not too far from Yellowstone Park. This is my coop and hoop run in winter. We can get wind gusts of up to 90mph, (unusual but has happened) with 60mph being our more normal gust speeds. I do not insulate my coop, nor do I heat it. I have operable windows on all but the north side of the coop. They are always open at least a crack on the downweather side. I also used floor vents, the kind used for forced air heating in our homes, on the upper walls on all four sides. They are also usually in the open position except on whicjever side bad weather is blowing in from. The gable vent above the people door is always open, as is their pop door into the plastic covered run. This has been my setup for the past 8 years. I’ve never lost a chicken to cold, nor had a case of frostbite. Even my Silkies do very well. A small, rated-for-plastic stock tank heater in a 5 gallon bucket fitted with horizontal nipples provides a steady supply of unfrozen water.

i raise my chicks outdoors from the start in a wire brooder pen in the run, even when our springtime “chick season” temperatures are in the twenties, dipping into the teens. I detest heat lamps too, so they use Mama Heating Pad as their heat source. In fact, it’s supposed to get down to the same temps you’re going to experience this weekend, and I have chicks out there right now. Three of them are 2 weeks old, the other 8 are a week old. They’ll be fine. They’ve already acclimated.

I evicted my first indoor, heat lamp raised chicks at 5.5 weeks. That was April 1, 2014. That night the temperature dropped to 18 degrees. The first two days they had a heat lamp, but those 2 nights when I went out to check them they weren’t anywhere near it. They were sleeping in a comfy pile in front of the pop door. The third day, April 3rd, I took it out, and it snowed hard with high winds that night. We got our last snowfall on June 6th. That’s when I realized that THEY didn’t need those arbitrary temperatures - my own peace of mind and the “experts” did. Done and done.

I grew up in South Dakota. I know how unpredictable spring is there, just as it is here. I think your chicks will be just fine. Temporary dips in temperatures are different than trying to contend with the long months of deep winter. They can cope with both quite well, but we, on the other hand, can worry ourselves into quite a

You are so welcome! In the beginning those guidelines from experts are meant to help new chicken owners, and for the most part they do. But it doesn’t take long until we start scratching our heads while we do what “they” say we should, and wondering why we’re doing it. Common sense usually kicks in about that time for some of us…..for others those things become habit and they just won’t budge.

Think about this….if a two pound hen can successfully raise her broods outdoors among the flock regardless of weather, without heat lamps, charts, books, experts and web sites, why do we do it so differently and think we’re doing it better? By the age of your chicks, they’d be away from mom most of the time because they all wouldn’t fit under her anymore anyway. They may roost next to her, but they aren’t using her for heat anymore. Listen to your gut and to your flock.

Definitely! I went against Google and turned the heat lamp off several weeks before I was supposed to just because they seemed fine and I wanted them to be tougher albeit they were in my bathroom. Google and my head aren’t jiving with these chickens lol. Thanks so much! I need them to be tough chickens to live here! So far they’re doing so great and I’m thrilled! Appreciate the logical advice!

 

[Magnolia76]

Thank you for all of the sound advice! I wanted to update so other newbies can see to stop worrying lol. It’s 31 degrees. They had no heat, no heated pad either. They roosted in a row and their bodies were warm. They are up having breakfast and doing just fine! They’ve now been outside of my bathroom for a week and at 6.5 weeks are fluffed up and thriving. Makes me happy! Thank you all!

 

[SamCO]

I love your coop/run area. looks like they have a great setup! I'm in Colorado, and supposed to get chilly here this weekend too. I had my girls outside at 5 weeks into their coop, and it was getting into the upper twenties/low thirties inside the coop. I did have a brooder plate in there, but pulled it out at about 7 weeks. I felt more comfortable with having some heat in there since they had just moved out.

 

[Magnolia76]

Appreciate it it’s been frustrating because we live on a hill. They will have additional run space with the 700 ft.² under our deck that I have also hardware cloth in. Just as soon as we can make a Chunnel for them to use to get to it. We still have to do other things to the run first. The coop is not ideal I was expecting a better quality for $2000 and got it so that my husband did not have to take time building the coop. It was a mistake. But the small size might be good for cold winters to help keep them warm. I will be adding insulation in the winter. I just need to get them through the next couple weeks until I know their bodies are strong enough to handle cold. I’m probably worried for nothing but I would feel awful of course if they got hurt during the cold this weekend.

 

[AngBantamLuv]

I love your setup!! I think the coop and run look great. When you said they were small, I was thinking bantams! That's what I have, and once they are feathered in, they are fine. I had to put mine in those temps. Only time I worried was when it was going to be close to 0 F.. then I moved them back inside the house for a few days. But your birds are big and that coop looks great. They will create heat amongst each other and be fine. I would keep the food and water in there until they get brave enough to start wandering out. Love the pic with them all piled at the door!!

 

[Magnolia76]

Yeah tell me about it the coop was actually the cheapest thing lol. Between the coop and the run and everything from the concrete to the brackets to the screws to roof to paint etc. my husband calculated we are over $5000 now!!! We would’ve come out better building the coop our self and it could’ve been what I wanted. When it’s time to replace it we will build ourself. He was procrastinating on starting all of this as it’s not easy on this hill so I thought I would find a Coop kit to make it easier on him. We’ve been working on the run for the last month the entire weekend. Tired lol. We build some thing similar in our last home in Washington state sev years ago for $2000. Sad the cost of things now!

 

[Magnolia76]

I love your setup!! I think the coop and run look great. When you said they were small, I was thinking bantams! That's what I have, and once they are feathered in, they are fine. I had to put mine in those temps. Only time I worried was when it was going to be close to 0 F.. then I moved them back inside the house for a few days. But your birds are big and that coop looks great. They will create heat amongst each other and be fine. I would keep the food and water in there until they get brave enough to start wandering out. Love the pic with them all piled at the door!!

Yes as soon as they are good with coming and going I will be moving the food and water permanently to the outside! So you feel that I am safe with them experiencing 29° at night this weekend. That’s good to hear thank you so much