Draft Shield

[vfanning]

My chicks are one week old, to my knowledge, and getting tail feathers. I have 25. They have been kept in our chicken coop in a baby pool with a draft shield around it with heating lamps. I've had a few escape the pool and shield. I was wondering at what age should I remove them from the pool and use just the draft shield? The floor of our coop is cement so I'd need to have it covered pretty good, as night time temps are still in the 25-30's at times. Also at what age can I just get rid of the draft shield and let them roam the chicken coop-still having a heating lamp on all the while. My mother in law raised chickens for years and said once they jump the draft shield, she used to remove it completely. Would they be warm enough with my floor being cement underneath the pine shavings?

 

[tsmith91]

I would put a good layer of pine shavings over the cement floor also as long as they have a source of heat to go to when they need to warm up it should be fine to take down the draft shield providing the coop isn't drafty