Chicks in coop early?

[AngieDawn]

This is what I have for mine

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B...&pf_rd_p=edaba0ee-c2fe-4124-9f5d-b31d6b1bfbee

 

[rosemarythyme]

So the questions are: 1) will a heating pad be enough heat in Winter, and 2) Does anyone have experience with heating "screens"? Thanks again!

They won't need heat at all, period. Nowhere in WA does it ever get cold enough for chickens past brooding age to need heat.

Ventilation, as explained below, is how you keep healthy chickens in cold but not COLD weather. A dry chicken can keep themselves warm without issue in below freezing temperatures.

Chickens require 4 sq ft per bird in the coop in general. The coop needs to be dry with lots of ventilation to move out stale damp air. It's the damp air that makes birds cold in the winter.

 

[AngieDawn]

They won't need heat at all, period. Nowhere in WA does it ever get cold enough for chickens past brooding age to need heat.

Ventilation, as explained below, is how you keep healthy chickens in cold but not COLD weather. A dry chicken can keep themselves warm without issue in below freezing temperatures.

Agreed

I’ve never given my adults heat except when I had a sick chicken and they ended up in the basement quarantined (one had sour crop etc).

Chickens need to be kept in a well ventilated dry place without a draft and they do great.

Mine always seemed to like cold weather much better then hot weather

 

[gtaus]

More specific please...at what night time low temp. can chicks be put out Without a heat lamp? We are still having some nighttime lows into the forties at times but the chicks are almost fully feathered out and are 6 weeks old. We put them out daily for hours, and they are fine, but are still bringing them in at night. It would be nice to not have to put the heat lamp out there (for now.) Also, has anyone had experience with the heat screens that I am seeing advertised? Thank you.

Last year I brooded my chicks in my unheated attached garage. However, I live in northern Minnesota and the April-May night time temps would drop down into the 30F's even in the garage. So I always kept 2 heat lamps on them until they were about 8 weeks old, at which time it was OK to leave them outside in the coop. I go by the method of starting the first week at 95F and decreasing the temp by 5F every week. But like many have said, at about 6 weeks they should be fully feathered out and OK for just about any temp.

Heat lamps can be used safely, but I always have at least 2 methods of securing the heat lamp. If one method fails, then the backup method should be able to keep the heat lamp out of the litter. I never trust those clamps on the reflectors by themselves, I always have a wire or chain as a backup.

I have never used the heat screens as my heat lamps and reflectors have worked well for me for 30 years and I have never felt the need to try something different. So I am comfortable with what has been successful for me.