Are they feathered enough to go out with a heat lamp?

[Dogsothoth]

Good idea.
Get them used to it before moving them to the coop.
Only 2 chicks?

Nope. This exact brood group is 6. I have 6 from another brood & 13 from another. far too many right now. I just normally don’t brood outside.

 

[aart]

Nope. This exact brood group is 6. I have 6 from another brood & 13 from another. far too many right now. I just normally don’t brood outside.

All the same age?
You're going to need more than one extra large plates.

 

[Ebony Rose]

If none of my hens volunteer to brood chicks, then I brood my chicks on the floor of my coop under a wire 'cage' that doesn't have a floor in it, as soon as they're dry enough to leave the incubator. I use a heat plate (not a lamp) which has the added benefit of not disturbing the adult birds that sleep in the same coop with them and gets the adults used to seeing and hearing the little ones. By day three I am able to remove the heating plate (I live in Panama where it's hot and humid year round) and prop the wire cage up with large pvc tubing (4" opening) to grant access in and out of this protected space for the little ones, but does not grant access to the adults. By the second week my little ones are usually out and about with the adult birds foraging in the daytime but often continue to use their 'safe space' on the floor for a few more weeks at bedtime. By two months, the squirts are fully integrated into the flock and have their place in the pecking order with very minimal squabbling about it.

 

[3KillerBs]

Like some others, I brood outdoors from day one.

In fact, I just turned the brooder plate on so that everything will be ready for the chicks that I expect to arrive at the post office tomorrow morning.

As long as the coop is dry and draft free and the chicks know where to get warm they thrive outdoors.

 

[Dogsothoth]

All the same age?
You're going to need more than one extra large plates.

Different ages, but I actually have 1 plate already in my garage I forgot about.

 

[aart]

Different ages, but I actually have 1 plate already in my garage I forgot about.

How big is it?
I used a 12x24 and it barely kept 16 chicks as long as they needed heat.
You have 21 chicks(?).

 

[Dogsothoth]

How big is it?
I used a 12x24 and it barely kept 16 chicks as long as they needed heat.
You have 21 chicks(?).

13 of my chicks are off heat & happy as clams out in the coop with the big girls actually! Super happy it went so smooth.

 

[kodster]

View attachment 3122031


If I have a heat lamp in the area still, are they feathered enough to go out in the little coop?

Minimum of 6 weeks old before they go outside into the coop, without a heat lamp. They were hatched at the temp of 101.5F, so you have to incrementally reduce that temperature to the outside temp (avg 70F) at this time of year, 5 degrees per week, by raising the heat lamp, as their feathers grow completely out... no fuzziness. You can take them outside during the day when it's warm enough, for supervised free-ranging, but bring them back inside when the temps are too cool yet or at night, with fuzziness, but permanently, there should be very little to no fuzziness. Otherwise, unless you've got a mama hen who is willing to take them under her wings to keep them warm, you're risking loss.

 

[Saveria]

Watch out for nighttime temps getting too low. I had my hatchery order chicks in a brooder in an outbuilding. I had a raised heat plate and a heat lamp. It got down to mid 30s outside, so 40 inside and then the heat lamp bulb burnt out. I found one dead under the heat plate, so just watch them closely if the nights get into the 40s.

 

[3KillerBs]

Minimum of 6 weeks old before they go outside into the coop, without a heat lamp.

That depends entirely on the degree of feathering and the temperatures.

For me, in my climate and with the breeds I've raised, 6 weeks was the MAXIMUM time before I took them off heat. They've gone into the main coop without heat as early as 3.5 weeks -- because they were well-feathered were sleeping in the far corner of my outdoor brooder away from the heat plate.

The one time I left a little heat on them -- just a 40W bulb -- until 6 weeks was when I had a couple cockerels with the slow feathering genes who were still fairly naked at 4 weeks.