Any advice on how to get them ready for the cold weather is appreciated. So far I’m able to borrow a little coop that’ll fit in my run. I can set it up with heat. My concern is how to wean them off the heat.
I think the easiest way is to set it up with just one warm area (big enough for all the chicks to warm up or sleep at once), and the rest of their space as cool as the outside air. The chicks will typically spend most of their time in the warm area for the first day or two, but soon they will be spending large amounts of time running around and playing in the cool areas. They will run back to the warm area each time they get cold (frequently at first, less often as they get older.)
That is close to the situation they would have with a broody hen, where they run around and then go back under her to warm up.
The heat for the warm place can come from a heat lamp, or from a brooder plate, or from a heating pad cave, or from any other method that works for chick brooding.
Personally, I have done it with a heat lamp. I put the heat lamp in one corner of the brooder space, and I hang it relatively low. That means it only heats a small area, but that area is quite warm. I want it at least 95 degrees under the middle of the lamp, even in the coldest weather, but I do not worry if it gets much higher (like 110 degrees) under the lamp during the warm parts of the day. The chicks will move away from the heat as needed. I do not adjust the lamp at all-- just leave it there until I see that the chicks are spending all their time away from the heat, at night as well as during the day. When that point comes, I unplug the lamp, leave it unplugged for about 2 days while I watch to be sure the chicks do not miss it, and then take out the lamp.
But that heat lamp arrangement ONLY works in a brooder that is big enough. There MUST be a large amount of cool space, so the chicks can always get away from the heat, even on the warmest days. You do not want cooked chicks!
The more cool space they have, the more quickly the chicks can wean themselves from the heat. Put the feed and water near the warm spot for the first few days, then when you see chicks running all over the place you can move the feeder & waterer a bit further away. If you have really cold weather, keep the waterer just close enough to the heat that it does not freeze.
People who recommend a hating-pad cave, or a brooder plate, often describe the same behavior that I have seen with a heat lamp: the chicks spend large amounts of time in the cool area, but they go back to the heat to warm up, and they sleep in the warm area until they grow a good set of feathers. If you want to use a brooder plate, check the instructions-- many of them need to be used in a place that is at least a certain amount warm, because they do not make enough heat for chicks in really cold areas.
With any heat source, of course you need to be careful to avoid fires. Heat lamps are renowned for causing fires if they get knocked down. Heat lamps can be used safely, and other heat sources can cause fires too, but I think heat lamps probably are more dangerous than the other options.
