I don't know. I read in one place that my chicks needed 95 degree temps when I got them and then to decrease by 5 degrees each week... and then I read elsewhere that they can withstand freezing at 5 weeks...?! So we're not expecting it to get below 57 degrees at night here (that's the very lowest in the week's forecast). My chicks are 3 weeks old. Can they go out into the coop? I have 9 of them.
50 degrees is still a littl cool for them. can you provide them with a heat lamp out in the coop? THey should be feathering out nicely by now. Is the coop draft free? Will they be locked in safely at night? These are all things you might consider before putting them outside.
I think, with a lack of a warming mother chicken, they need a little technology to survive cold. they change alot between 3 and 5 weeks
Okay... I'll settle down now! DH is putting the coop together now. If it looks draft free and I can put the heat bulb in there, then maybe they can go tomorrow. The whole thing should be pretty predator-proof. As much as a moveable coop could possibly be, anyway. Oh... and now the site I bought the coop from says they can stand freezing temps at 3 weeks. Way to confuse a newbie--right?
Ohhh, I would never put them out in freezing temps at 3 weeks. Jeesh! How could they survive? I would put a little heat in there in the evenings.
That is the one nice thing about living in Arizona. It hasn't been down below about 75 at night for weeks now! Although we do have to put up with 110 during the day! Ouch!!!! Good luck putting the babes out in the yard tomorrow. They will have a ton of fun running and checking things out. It's amazing how much they enjoy stretching their legs (and wings!). ______________________________________ Our Flock: 2 Black Australorps, 5 Americaunas, 3 Barred Rocks, 2 Buff Somethings , 2 RIR, 1 Dorking, 1 Partridge Rock and 1 White Lace Red Cornish Not to mention 2 horses, 2 dogs, 2 cats, 1 Holland Lop (Bunny), and 2 fish tanks! We live in a zoo!!!!
I agree that I would never try freezing temps... I'm worried about the high 50s/low 60s. They are out in the coop with a heating lamp. They're huddled together, but not under the warmth of the lamp and I'm completely freaking out about it. It's 9:30pm and 70 degrees with an expected low of 61. I'm thinking that with the lamp, they should be fine... no? I'm wondering why they'd huddle together, but not where the warmth of the lamp is...? Are they just completely freaked out by the new place? I know I read here somewhere about somebody's chicks all crammed into the nest boxes their first night out in the coop so I wonder if this is a natural "freaking out" thing for them... Any ideas? Should I go out and get them?
Okay... I didn't get to sleep until 3am watching them on the chicken nanny cam (yes--we set up the laptop in the coop where they couldn't get on it and it transmitted images into the house for us. At one point, I had hubby lower the heat lamp a bit and then all was good. They slept near one another, but were not in a huddled mass. They were near the lamp and a few right under it... so I felt okay to go to sleep. So that's it!! My girls are out! What a relief because the basement gets VERY damp in the warm weather and their inside brooder was too small for the size they were getting to be (dumb newbie chick mom). All I could picture was bacteria and illness... ugh! And they're roosting in their new house! YAY!!