Four week old chicks - okay to put outside?

[mommaBof7]

Hello!
Our babies are 4 weeks old now. They have way outgrown the large tote system I had them in. Tonight I came up with the idea to put them in a rabbit hutch we had just got. Everything else seems to check out -- the doors are secure, it has an open side and an enclosed side. The wire is the small (like 1/2 inch) mesh. To be extra safe though, I lined the mesh part with cardboard and topped that with pine chips.
I put the heat lamp in one corner (has to be the open side since I can't find a good spot to anchor it in the enclosed area, besides it may get too hot in there).
It all looks good -- but of course we happen to be going through a cold spell suddenly. :/ Days are mid 70's and up to 80's currently (we just had high 80's and even 90 degree weather last week!), but tonight it's a bit windy and it's dipping down to 45.
So far the chicks won't go into the enclosed part of the hutch. I'm worried that it will be too cold for them even with the heat lamp on .

Ideas? Thoughts?

 

[Mylied]

If they are feathered in, then they'll be fine.You can put a little click light in the enclosed part. They don't like going into the dark. Especially young birds.

 

[mommaBof7]

Yes, lots of feathers. That makes sense about the dark.. maybe I can hang a flashlight in there.. hmmm

Thank you!

 

[DrFeathers]

have you tried conditioning them to room temperature inside - turn off the heat lamp during the day time to get them used to room temp / temperature variation? I moved my most recent batch outside at 6 weeks without a heat lamp at all with temperatures like that. I did a week of lamp at night, room temp in day to condition them first.

 

[rosemarythyme]

How bad is the draft in the open part that the chicks are currently in? You could manually move them into the enclosed section, if you're concerned that they don't know how to get inside it, but they're probably ok where they're at, at their age.

I have 4-day-old chicks outside. It was mid 60s today. They spend a good chunk of the day away from their heat source, even though they're still balls of fluff.

 

[mommaBof7]

have you tried conditioning them to room temperature inside - turn off the heat lamp during the day time to get them used to room temp / temperature variation? I moved my most recent batch outside at 6 weeks without a heat lamp at all with temperatures like that. I did a week of lamp at night, room temp in day to condition them first.

Yes, I've been turning off their heat lamp inside during the day for about a week now, and even at night some since we keep our room pretty warm. They've been in the room with the air conditioner too, so I think it's caused their box temperature to actually be a bit lower. Outside shouldn't be too much different.