We have our chickens which are 7 weeks old. We have them in the coop and just this last week opened the door to the run. The other day we turned off their heat lamp for good, that night i went out to shut the coop door and they were all still outside huddled in the corner. I picked them up and put them all back inside and shut the door. What if this becomes a problem? What should we do? I was going to throw some scratch down in the coop to get them to come back in. Any thoughts? The other is when we purchased the last chicks it was spring and then when it was time time to transition outside it was plenty warm. This time it was Jan. when they arrived and now it is time to go outside it still is cold. Should we still cut the heat lamp or leave it on a little longet to compensate for heat. Never have tried the winter chicks before. Any comments would help. Thanks
You didn`t say where you live, but chances are you should leave the heat on. At 7 weeks they are still quite young. Keep them in the coup for a few more weeks.
I'm raising chickens for the first time and I had the exact thing happen to me. It was in the fall when my birds were about that age and warm enough not to need a light inside. So I was going out every night and moving them inside and locking up. It seemed to me that when the sun was going down it was darker inside the coop and i guess they wanted to be where it was lighter. So I started leaving the light on till after dark and they all went inside on their own. After they were all in I would lock up and turn off the light. From what I understand, chickens cannot see in the dark so i guess they wanted to be where they could see better. Hope this helps.. Kari Sue
