Fully Feathered?

[FarmerMoogan]

Hi!

Would you consider these to be fully feathered? I want to move them out to the coop but we have temps in the low 50’s at night. They seem to be feathered everywhere but the head/neck.

Barred rock are supposed to be 8-9 weeks
And the others are 6-7 weeks.

 

[azygous]

I believe these chicks are a bit younger than you were told. Usually, four to five-week olds are fully feathered except for down still on the heads. This stage of feathering affords good insulation against cold temps down to about freezing. They certainly no longer need a heat source at temps above freezing as long as they've been acclimatized to cold.

 

[FarmerMoogan]

I believe these chicks are a bit younger than you were told. Usually, four to five-week olds are fully feathered except for down still on the heads. This stage of feathering affords good insulation against cold temps down to about freezing. They certainly no longer need a heat source at temps above freezing as long as they've been acclimatized to cold.

I definitely think you are right. A few weeks younger than I thought. If temps are in the 40’s at night, would they be able to be in the coop full time? I have a heat plate I could add in the coop. But if that’s not necessary, I don’t want to have to run electric to the coop.

 

[azygous]

At those temps, they can handle it okay without heat. Be sure they have gradually gotten used to the cold, though. You don't want them to go from 75F to 50F suddenly.

 

[rosemarythyme]

They're feathered enough to be out without heat at those temperatures, provided you have fully weaned them off heat and acclimated them to outside temps, as azygous has mentioned.