Are they ready to go out?

[needlessjunk]

I have another question for y'all. My ducks have been going out during the day full time this last week. The weather got nasty yesterday and was raining and in the 40's. They were screaming at me for locking them up in the garage so I kicked them outside and just watched them to make sure no one was getting cold. They were swimming all day in my flooded yard and I brought them in twice to "warm up" and have a change to get dry and they were not happy at all when I brought them in. So inlight of that I'm thinking they might be ready to go out full time. My garage hasn't dropped below 55 degrees and I turned back on a small lamp since it was suppose to get into the 30's last night. Do you think newt week they will be fine out all night? Next Friday it will drop back into the 30's and the rest of the time the low will be the 40's. They will be 8 weeks on Monday and are fully feathered minus under their wings.

 

[Amiga]

I cannot remember what predator-proof shelter you have for night-time. That would be my big concern.

 

[needlessjunk]

It's a 3 sided coop and as soon as the weather clears up I'm going to finish the 1/2 in hardware cloth over the 1 inch openings under the roof. I do have a board I put over the open side when it gets cold and I will put it up for these girls till it warms up at night or they are a few weeks older.

 

[Amiga]

I go by the 90F first week, less 5 degrees F per week on temperatures. There is some wiggle room there, each duck has her own health thresholds.

If the half inch metal hardware cloth is not on the outside night shelter, I would wait this it is all secured. Critters come out of nowhere.

 

[needlessjunk]

I would never consider putting them out till it was secure. It will take me 30 mins to finish it up as I just had to fix a leak and redo the roofing to give more head clearance for my runners. At what point do you stop going by the 5 degree rule?

 

[Sfraker]

If they are fully feathered they should be good to go. The temperature won't be that different than what they experienced in the garage. Just give them lots of bedding in their coop so they can snuggle down into it at night.