Babies outside for the first night

[junior67]

They seem ok. I am a nervous wreck!!! They are 6 weeks been off heat inside for 2 weeks. It is going to get down to 49 tonight. They should be fine right??? It is only 830 and I have already checked them twice. right now all the windows are open ( covered with HWC). Should I block the windows??

 

[Aapomp831]

6 weeks? They are good to go! No worries.

 

[Alyssaclaiber]

I’m only 2 years into chicken-ing, but I was told that once they’re feathered out, they’ll generate and maintain enough heat to be comfortable in moderate temps.
I put my babies out not too long ago, and was shocked to near heart-attack level, when I looked up at their ceiling, and saw a massive, 6’ plus snake!! Thank goodness I decided to put hardware cloth across the ceiling!
So, the only worry I would have is not having 1/4 “ or slightly larger, galvanized hardware cloth on the ceiling (if there’s any way anything can crawl into that space,) and on the floor, walls and covering all holes. You can have a skirt of HW cloth around your coop, but I’ve had things dig under that skirt and could have, with average effort, made it in with the chicks. I do live in southern Louisiana, so things slither, crawl and jump their way wherever they physically can! Kinda gross..lol.

 

[junior67]

I’m only 2 years into chicken-ing, but I was told that once they’re feathered out, they’ll generate and maintain enough heat to be comfortable in moderate temps.
I put my babies out not too long ago, and was shocked to near heart-attack level, when I looked up at their ceiling, and saw a massive, 6’ plus snake!! Thank goodness I decided to put hardware cloth across the ceiling!
So, the only worry I would have is not having 1/4 “ or slightly larger, galvanized hardware cloth on the ceiling (if there’s any way anything can crawl into that space,) and on the floor, walls and covering all holes. You can have a skirt of HW cloth around your coop, but I’ve had things dig under that skirt and could have, with average effort, made it in with the chicks. I do live in southern Louisiana, so things slither, crawl and jump their way wherever they physically can! Kinda gross..lol.

There is HWC on the windows, the gable openings, and the eve openings. The coop is 2 ft off the ground with HW cloth around the bottom that is "open" under it and an apron around it. So all spots are sealed up very tight. I am in MA so while we may have garden snakes that is about it as far as slithery things. haahaa. oh and tree frogs so I feel the coop is very secure.

 

[junior67]

6 weeks? They are good to go! No worries.

Thanks! It is funny since technically I know they are fine and I never thought (before I got them) I would have a hard time putting them out. Once they hit about 2 weeks old I could tell I was going to worry when I put them out and the thought of it at that point had me so nervous. hahaaa. I was going to wait until next week to do it but figured they were out all day today so why not try it tonight and see how they did. They are getting a bit crowded in the dog crate they were in for a brooder and we had a bit of picking here and there so felt they needed the space. We won't be around a lot of the weekend so having them "stuck" in the crate basically for 45 hrs or so made me more worried that they would get board and cramped and start pecking each other so figured why not do it now........ But yikes tonight sure is hard and I am soooooooo nervous for them! can only imagine tomorrow night when I am not home! EEKS!

 

[junior67]

I should add the whole run now has HWC on it and the part that is shown in that pic also has a roof on it. so the coop is secure and the run is "pretty" secure. We need to still put trim on the seams of the HWC in the run (they are only out there when they can be supervised right now) but we will do that tomorrow I think so even then the run will be secure 100% as well.

 

[berIin]

Unrelated but wow! You have such beautiful chickens haha

 

[junior67]

Unrelated but wow! You have such beautiful chickens haha

aww thank you. I am loving them! I tried to pick breeds that I loved the look of and also based on personality. didn't really worry about egg production since I got 10 (one I believe is a roo though. ) so figured I would have plenty of eggs even if they weren't the best layers.

 

[chickentrains]

They are going to love it out there!

 

[junior67]

They are going to love it out there!

Thanks. They have been enjoying the run most of the day every day this week since it has been warm out, but I still have a bit more work to do on my run before I am comfortable if I am not out there so if I had to go in the house for more then 5 min I would put them in the coop so they had a chance to get used to that and they seemed to enjoy it. I just need to get over being nervous and we should be all good.