do they need food and water at night?

mamabigbird · May 24, 2011

My brooder is set up on our back porch, protected from wind, and I have a red brooder light which gives warmth, but its' still cold at night.
It gets down to 9-11ish C. ( don't know what that is in Fahrenheit )
I'm thinking I might need to bring them in at night and put them in the bathtub in a cardboard box.
My question is do I need to bring in their waterer and food too?
If they were with a mama hen wouldn't they stay under her all night?
Normally chickens don't move around in the dark.
If I move their brooder light into the bathtub too to increase the temp would that make them more active and therefore need food and water?
I can move everything back and forth but if I don't have to it would be easier.
I pick them up tomorrow morning so could use advice A.S.A.P.

Anianna · May 24, 2011

That's about 48-52 degrees Fahrenheit (with a little rounding). That's pretty chilly for the youngest ones and I think most here would probably bring them in until they are fully feathered. Without a light, they would pretty much sleep all night, but with a heat lamp, they will be up sporadically throughout the night. If you don't have food and water in there at night, they will live, but they will probably put up a fuss and get noisy about it.