from SCORCHING to COLD!

[Chelly]

I'm not sure if I should put my babies out.... ?

We've had scorching hot weather the last two weeks or so, and each day I put the babies out in a little tractor.
Then we had a HUGE storm, and the temps dropped, I kept the chicks inside while it was raining, felt so bad for them, then yesterday I put them out at lunch time, it was still chilly but they seemed to be ok, it was about 64 out yesterday.

Today however, its 53 right now (still early 9am)
At what temp can I put them outside to play? They're about 3 weeks old, not fully feathered.

 

[allen wranch]

53° is way too cold for three week old chicks. Keep them inside until the temps are in the 80s or above.
Around 6 weeks they should be OK, but may need a little heat at night.

 

[Chelly]

Thanks Carla,
I feel so bad for the poor girls who just LOVE to play outside..... I actually have teh heat on them still today - I've been shutting off at day time, but left it on and its only up to 77 in their brooder...
the weather is just WEIRD!

 

[Southern28Chick]

Oh no that's way to cold for the babies. At 3 weeks they still need to be at 75-80 degrees. Keep them in until it warms up or if it doesn't warm up then keep them in until they're older.

53 degrees!!!! We're going to be back up to 100 tomorrow.

 

[rosyposyosy]

over here we're PERFECT

 

[Chelly]

Well, I have had the heat lamp on more these last two days than i did when they first arrived!

The girls did get out today, from around 1pm to 5pm - they got to lie around in the sun and dust bathe for a while, chased some grasshoppers and flapped wings!

Now they're back in the brooder under the heat lamp!
Silly things, the heat lamp thing is on one corner of the brooder, and they were all BUNCHED up on teh other side, so I moved the heat lamp and now they're happy - don't know why they didn't figure it out!