Can these chicks go outside?

[featheredplanets]

I have a couple of near 6 week old bantams that aren’t fully feathered but close. I need to put them outside because my mum won’t let me keep them in any longer. My broody was supposed to be raising them but she abandoned them at 3 weeks old. I’d like to put them out tomorrow. It’s getting between 8 and 6c on a night, but Monday and Tuesday night it will be 4c. I can post a pic of the hutch tomorrow. But I was thinking of putting a cardboard box to help keep a warm place. I have a small Sungglesafe heat pad as well.

 

[Shezadandy]

I have a couple of near 6 week old bantams that aren’t fully feathered but close. I need to put them outside because my mum won’t let me keep them in any longer. My broody was supposed to be raising them but she abandoned them at 3 weeks old. I’d like to put them out tomorrow. It’s getting between 8 and 6c on a night, but Monday and Tuesday night it will be 4c. I can post a pic of the hutch tomorrow. But I was thinking of putting a cardboard box to help keep a warm place. I have a small Sungglesafe heat pad as well.

Have a look at "Momma Heating Pads" or "MHP"s - all kinds of ways to make a nice little cave to sleep in. You'll want to make sure it doesn't turn itself off after 2hrs, though given their age, maybe it won't be much of an issue since they're so close to being fully feathered. One group liked to sleep away from their heat source at night in kind of a bowl I made in the straw - then they'd get up, eat their breakfast, and go under their MHP in the cold hours of the morning.

 

[featheredplanets]

Have a look at "Momma Heating Pads" or "MHP"s - all kinds of ways to make a nice little cave to sleep in. You'll want to make sure it doesn't turn itself off after 2hrs, though given their age, maybe it won't be much of an issue since they're so close to being fully feathered. One group liked to sleep away from their heat source at night in kind of a bowl I made in the straw - then they'd get up, eat their breakfast, and go under their MHP in the cold hours of the morning.

There’s no way to get electricity outside. Snugglesafe heat pads are microwavable pads that stay warm for 12 hrs.

 

[Sagey_7878]

If they are close to being fully feathered and they have a warm sheltered coop, you can move them outside, you can use that pad you have if you want but it is not needed, they will keep each other warm at night.

 

[Shezadandy]

There’s no way to get electricity outside. Snugglesafe heat pads are microwavable pads that stay warm for 12 hrs.

OK, so you could use that pad and put it over a frame, or I guess put it under where it might stay warm longer - and just use towels over the top or something like that. Have they been sleeping on the ground still or are they perching now?

 

[Chicken Heel]

They should be fine to put outside. I had put six chicks out at 3 weeks old back in mid September and their third night it got down to 46 degrees F after being 92 degrees F their first day. They have matured faster than any chicks I have ever had and are now 8 weeks old and thriving.

 

[OkieSLW]

When in doubt hold out. Have you weened the chicks off the heat source?

 

[Ebony Rose]

The momma didn't abandon them at 3 weeks of age, she WEENED them. In her opinion, they were ready for the big-wide-world. To reintroduce them, they need to have at least a week or two of "look but don't touch" time with the flock, and also some hiding spots that have food and water in them, places that they can go, and big chickens cannot.

 

[OkieSLW]

Ten four. Sounds like you got it figured out.

 

[goldysgirl]

That's interesting and good to know. My Japanese still leads her chicks around and until last night, slept in the nest box with the babies under her wings. Last night they roosted with the flock. They have been fully feathered for a couple of weeks and are about 1/3 her size. I was thinking that they were pretty big to still be sleeping under mom.