Are my chicks ready?

[MammaDuck01]

We live in Arkansas and the weather have been about 80°-90° during the day and depending on overcast and all about 40°-60° at night. My chick are about two months old and almost but not quite fully feathered. Still need to work on the head and neck areas. Is it safe for them to be out day and night without them freezing? I'm new to the fluffy baby part and having a hard time letting go. They enjoy the field trips and get pretty mad when I bring them back in :/

 

[Judy]

They are definitely ready, if you've had their heat lamp turned off. I've seen threads today where three week olds are going to stay in the coop in siilar weather.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

*I* would not hesitate to put them out if they were my birds -- I put my latest batch out at 5 weeks in weather cooler than that and they are happy, healthy 8+ week olds now.

 

[rosinsk1772]

FREE the birds as my wife says. Their ready to go outside.

 

[CFLMOM]

This thread came at the perfect time! I am in central Florida. Its gonna drop to 63 tonight. Thats cold for us..... Anyway, I have 6-7 week old chicks. I have them in the coop as of today. Do they need a heat lamp any more???

 

[bobshere]

My girls have been outside since 5 weeks old. Their first night was minus 10c but I have a lamp on. It's only been getting up to 50f since I put them out. Im in northern Ontario. This week is suppose to go double digits so I'm going to turn off the lamp during the day from here on. Maybe turn it back on at night when it gets close to freezing. They have seemed quite comfortable since day 1 and they are rarely under the light anymore.

 

[Judy]

This thread came at the perfect time! I am in central Florida. Its gonna drop to 63 tonight. Thats cold for us..... Anyway, I have 6-7 week old chicks. I have them in the coop as of today. Do they need a heat lamp any more???

Goodness, no. A bunch of hay to snuggle into, or something like that, will be plenty. They might even surprise you and sleep on the roost.

 

[CFLMOM]

Well we had to put them in the hen house they were settling down uder the ramp. We closed the pop door between the run and the house and they did great. The leaders seem to be on roost. The others slept on the hay. They seem upset tonight when we put them in. A lot of chirping. Hopefully its just because they are still adjusting. I feel bad closing them in. But I'm confident that temperature wise they are comfortable. It does seem very dark. I dont know if thats why they were making a fuss. We will see..... All advice is sooo appreciated!!
Thanks

 

[Mountain Peeps]

They are definitely ready, if you've had their heat lamp turned off. I've seen threads today where three week olds are going to stay in the coop in siilar weather.

X2

 

[JadedPhoenix]

I've had my chicks out since the day that they arrived (or for my lone chick that hatched, day two) in much colder temps. It was March here in NC (and we still had snow on the ground) when I put my first batch out. I had a heat lamp for them that they could snuggle under and stay warm but I was amazed at how soon they took advantage of my set up that allowed them to go out in a small brooding run. I kept the light on that they could use when needed but they soon abandoned it. My first batch of chicks are only two months old but have had full access to the run for a month and the newest chicks who are three weeks younger than the first have weaned themselves off of the excess heat as well.

In fact, I just cut them loose in the rest of the run today as well. I kept getting strays that some how ended up out of the brooding area anyway and I've found that since the younger chicks outnumber the older chicks, it is safer for them to all be out together instead of just the stray loner. Ironically, I've had no trouble with the hens pecking on any of the chicks, only the older chicks. But since there are four older chicks and nineteen younger chicks... I think that the numbers are definitely on their side. I just came from outside where I was watching and it is funny to watch the different age groups all roaming around in their own little flocks with no one bothering the other.

Chicks are more able to deal with cold than people give them credit for. In fact, I'm always more worried about them getting too hot. Harder to cool off than it is to warm up. Oh, And I haven't lost any chicks due to being too chilled.