At what age can chicks live outdoors without heater??

Cloverr39

Crowing
Jan 27, 2022
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Latvia
I have silkies 4 and 3 weeks old. The temperatures are around 8° to 15°+ degrees Celsius right now. And around 6°C on colder nights.

I have a broody with a 1 week old and they seem to be doing well, but the chick has a mom.
I also brought two 4 week old silkie chicks outside today to get some sunlight and they were great while the sun was shining, but as soon as the sun all sunlight disappeared they were shivering a little bit and had to huddle up in my lap.
 
So, a couple things to consider - they will do far better inside a properly ventilated coop in a big cluster of chicks rather than just 2 outside. So, if you have a decent amount of them and a non-drafty place for them to sleep, they might be just about ready to start living in the coop.

Being that you have some 3 week olds, I would probably give them a week of taking them all outside together during daylight, then back in at night. This will help harden them off to the cool weather. When you do decide to put them out to the coop, I would put the entire batch in at the same time. This will allow them to sleep in one big pile and gives them a good deal of body mass to share heat.
 
So, a couple things to consider - they will do far better inside a properly ventilated coop in a big cluster of chicks rather than just 2 outside. So, if you have a decent amount of them and a non-drafty place for them to sleep, they might be just about ready to start living in the coop.

Being that you have some 3 week olds, I would probably give them a week of taking them all outside together during daylight, then back in at night. This will help harden them off to the cool weather. When you do decide to put them out to the coop, I would put the entire batch in at the same time. This will allow them to sleep in one big pile and gives them a good deal of body mass to share heat.
I have 11 chicks in total.
6x 4week olds,
5x 3week olds.

Would the chicks be fine put directly inside the coop and run together with 5 adult bantams?
 
I have 11 chicks in total.
6x 4week olds,
5x 3week olds.

Would the chicks be fine put directly inside the coop and run together with 5 adult bantams?
They will most likely be fine, but I would still make sure they have some place to retreat to if the adults start picking on them. For this, I like putting a cat carrier in there with the door locked to a slightly open position - the goal is to make it wide enough for the littles to get through, but too tight for the bigs to fit in.
 
They will most likely be fine, but I would still make sure they have some place to retreat to if the adults start picking on them. For this, I like putting a cat carrier in there with the door locked to a slightly open position - the goal is to make it wide enough for the littles to get through, but too tight for the bigs to fit in.
Alright I'll try to make some hides for the chicks. I also read somewhere that it's better to add chicks to a flock when they're 4-6 weeks old becouse then the adults will accept them better than 3-4 month olds.
 
Alright I'll try to make some hides for the chicks. I also read somewhere that it's better to add chicks to a flock when they're 4-6 weeks old becouse then the adults will accept them better than 3-4 month olds.
Yea, I would agree with that. With the 4-6 week ones, I expect the interactions to be a few pecks on the head saying "you are lower than me in the pecking order" and the young ones just kinda accepting it. But with 3-4 month olds, these head pecks might turn into full on fights. Typically nobody gets injured, but there's always a risk.

This is also where it is very useful to introduce newbies in a cluster. There will be head pecks to be had, but if there are a lot of newbies, each only gets a few hits rather than a full on assault.
 

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