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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.)
