Age Chicks ready for outside in this weather.

[ChirpingChimneys]

My silkie chicks are 3 weeks old. I plan on giving them a heat source and would like to start outside time during the day with them. What age is appropriate to leave them outside permanently in these Temps?

 

[NatJ]

View attachment 3706569

My silkie chicks are 3 weeks old. I plan on giving them a heat source and would like to start outside time during the day with them. What age is appropriate to leave them outside permanently in these Temps?

If they are sheltered from the rain and wind, chicks with a suitable heat source can live in an outdoor coop from their very first day.

A broody hen is a suitable heat source: she will quickly warm chicks up to chicken body temperature, but does not heat all the air around her. So the chicks run out into the cold to eat and drink and play, and back under her to warm up and to sleep.

Any heat source that can safely provide that temperature will also work, if the chicks are free to go warm up any time they want. The heat source can be a brooder plate, a heating-pad cave, a heat lamp, or anything else that does the job.

Some brooder plates do not provide enough heat to use in those temperatures, and must be used where the air temperature is within a certain range (some say 50+ degrees Fahrenheit, others may list other temperatures.)

For chicks to live outside with no heat source in those temperatures, they typically have to be fully feathered (which seems to range from 4 weeks up to 12+ weeks depending on the individual chicks, with most falling somewhere in the middle.)

Because of the way Silkie feathers are different than normal feathers, Silkies will always need a bit more weather protection than other chicknes (from rain, wind, and excessive cold. In Florida, you probably will never get cold enough to be a problem for adult Silkies unless they are getting rained on or exposed to a heavy wind.)

 

[Debbie292d]

I just put our three barely 2-month-old silkies outside in a temp coop/pen last night. They have a cozy coop heater. They stayed warm but here it's been unseasonably warm as in approx. 45F days and 30F nights. Today they were running around out in their pen (42F) even in the rain so had to go get them. They aren't too smart yet.

Silkies feather out slower than other breeds. Mine aren't even fully feathered yet at 2 months but close enough.

Where you are, I'd think you could do this much sooner than I can though.

 

[NatJ]

...would like to start outside time during the day with them....

I forgot to address this bit.

For daytime visits to outside, you can start at almost any age, but stay there and watch the chicks. If they act cold (peeping and huddling), take them back to the brooder to warm up. If they peep and huddle immediately, that is probably from being scared, and you can keep them out for 5-10 minutes anyway. After that, if they are still peeping and huddling, treat it as cold and take them back to the brooder.

Over time, they will be able to stay outside longer before they have to go warm up again. Of course it will also change depending on the weather.

When I say you can start at "almost any age," I would probably not try it with chicks younger than about a week old, but that doesn't matter because yours are already older than that.

 

[fuzzi]

View attachment 3706569

My silkie chicks are 3 weeks old. I plan on giving them a heat source and would like to start outside time during the day with them. What age is appropriate to leave them outside permanently in these Temps?

I used a Momma Heating Pad, and brooded my chicks outside from the day they arrived.

From my thread:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/fuzzis-chicken-journal.1550586/post-26587205 Making MHP

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/fuzzis-chicken-journal.1550586/post-26589783 Doing final tweaks on MHP

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/fuzzis-chicken-journal.1550586/post-26591524 Chicks in the brooder

Original source of the MHP idea:
'Mama Heating Pad in the Brooder' https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...d-in-the-brooder-picture-heavy-update.956958/

One more suggestion that I used:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...der-picture-heavy-update.956958/post-15192097