Acclimate a recovered hen from indoors to outdoors in -15C

[The_Flock]

Hi all. I am happy to say I have a recovering Ameraucana hen who I will be looking to put back in the coop in the next few days. She's spent the last 6 days in the house and it is winter here. The nights go down to at least -15C. It was really warm and sunny out today so I gave her a bit of outside time, but she was not ready for much more than a few minutes. She still has some healing to do yet, so I have some time to think about how to do this.
I welcome your suggestions on re-acclimating her to living outdoors in freezing temps again. Any and all. Thank you very much.

 

[micstrachan]

I would take it slow (like take several days to transition her back outside at night). Is there a room in the house where you can slightly crack the window? Another option might be to keep her in a crate in the coop. Attach a heat pad to the SIDE of her crate so she can get as close (or not) as she wants.

 

[Maiahr]

Option 1 - open door or a window in the room where she stays so the temp in the room drops down. Obviously gradually - 5 min , then 10min per hour, etc.
Option 2 - take her outside for a short time during the day, again start with 5-10min and extend.

I do both.. I have a mother hen who hatched on December 21st inside the house in a warm room.. also -15C at night here.. well it is 3C today but we have snow. I opened the room door, she took the chickens outside and came back in 5min. I open the door every hour and she looks around and decides if she wants to go outside or not.

 

[The_Flock]

I would take it slow (like take several days to transition her back outside at night). Is there a room in the house where you can slightly crack the window? Another option might be to keep her is a crate in the coop. Attach a heat pad to the SIDE of her crate so she can get as close (or not) as she wants.

Thank you so much. I might be able to open a window but she is in our sunroom which is our entry to our house. I was toying with the idea of letting her outside a bit longer each day for a few days, and then putting her in the hospital crate in the coop with a heating pad. I like your idea about putting it in a corner. That's a great idea!! Thank you.

 

[The_Flock]

Option 1 - open door or a window in the room where she stays so the temp in the room drops down. Obviously gradually - 5 min , then 10min per hour, etc.
Option 2 - take her outside for a short time during the day, again start with 5-10min and extend.

I do both.. I have a mother hen who hatched on December 21st inside the house in a warm room.. also -15C at night here.. well it is 3C today but we have snow. I opened the room door, she took the chickens outside and came back in 5min. I open the door every hour and she looks around and decides if she wants to go outside or not.

Ya...we might be near to eachother as it's been gorgeous out for the last few days. She's spent a bit of time outside yesterday and today and seems to get pretty tired, pretty fast. So giving her the option of going out as well as figuring out how to possibly open a window is nice too. Thank you.