introvertedhen
Hatching
Hello!
I have 3 golden comets that are now 6 weeks old. They are currently living in the brooder in our garage but have not had any supplemental heat for the past 2 weeks. Today it is 68 fahrenheit outside right now, so would it be warm enough to let my chicks go outside and into the coop for a few hours? They will still sleep in the brooder at night, but I wanted to let them outside for a bit. We have a safe and secure coop that is already built and ready for them, I'm just not sure if they're too young too go outside. Thanks.
I have 3 golden comets that are now 6 weeks old. They are currently living in the brooder in our garage but have not had any supplemental heat for the past 2 weeks. Today it is 68 fahrenheit outside right now, so would it be warm enough to let my chicks go outside and into the coop for a few hours? They will still sleep in the brooder at night, but I wanted to let them outside for a bit. We have a safe and secure coop that is already built and ready for them, I'm just not sure if they're too young too go outside. Thanks.
What I learned is this. They may be fully feathered, but they are still babies. They can get stressed by the new environment and the cold. However, your weather sounds lovely. I think as long as it stays above freezing they should be fine. Also as a gentler transition (depending on your weather), prepare heat of some sort in their coop. My 8 week olds are back in the house because it was not supposed to be above freezing (day or night) for like 3 days in a row and got down in the single digits, even with a heat lamp, this was a bit much. I'm dealing with respiratory infection in my flock due to the huge temp fluctuations and stress. The next phase is that they can spend time in their coop with the heat lamp, locked up. They get more space than in my house, but more heat and less draft than if they are free to roam their fenced pen. Also it takes some longer than others to figure out the ramp/pop hole and going in and out of the fenced yard to the coop, so they don't instinctively go back into their coop if they are cold, I found mine will huddle together outside in the wind, but haven't learned to run back up the ramp and go in. So mine go out, supervised in their fenced yard, for short periods of time when I feel it is warm enough, then locked back in their coop with access to the heat lamp. I have two different height perches plus the floor, so they can choose how close or far they want to be from the heat. I only plan on running the heat lamp when it will be below freezing until they are full grown. 
. Mine were little younger then 5 weeks when the went out permanently
