Fully Feathered?

[The Welch Chickens]

Are these chicks considered fully feathered? Most are five weeks old, but a few are four weeks. Do you think they are ready to move into the coop full time? The nighttime temps are in the 50s, sometimes dropping to the 40s.

There are two who still have a lot of fluff on their heads:

Thanks in advance!

 

[nuthatched]

Kick em out to the coop, they should be fine.

 

[Auntiejessi3]

Agreed, they'll be fine

 

[The Welch Chickens]

Ok, thank you!

 

[rosemarythyme]

Agreed, they're plenty feathered and they could stand to be out in those temps with proper acclimatization, even with less feathering.

 

[The Welch Chickens]

Agreed, they're plenty feathered and they could stand to be out in those temps with proper acclimatization, even with less feathering.

"Proper acclimatization" meaning they have had time outdoors? They are currently outside all day and in the garage at night.

 

[Ridgerunner]

At those ages and with those temperatures i would not worry about acclimating. If you were getting below freezing and with the four week olds I would have some concerns.

Acclimating is not just time outside, it is exposure to cooler temperatures. I don't know what are the coldest temperatures yours have seen either outside or in that garage. They do not need to see freezing temperatures to acclimate to freezing temperatures, just cool temperatures. That helps them feather out faster. I'm being vague because this is very vague. Even without acclimating they can handle temperatures much colder than many people think they can.

 

[The Welch Chickens]

At those ages and with those temperatures i would not worry about acclimating. If you were getting below freezing and with the four week olds I would have some concerns.

Acclimating is not just time outside, it is exposure to cooler temperatures. I don't know what are the coldest temperatures yours have seen either outside or in that garage. They do not need to see freezing temperatures to acclimate to freezing temperatures, just cool temperatures. That helps them feather out faster. I'm being vague because this is very vague. Even without acclimating they can handle temperatures much colder than many people think they can.

Ok, that makes sense. Thank you so much!

 

[rosemarythyme]

"Proper acclimatization" meaning they have had time outdoors? They are currently outside all day and in the garage at night.

Ridgerunner explained it very well! In many cases exposing them to outside temperatures for gradually longer periods of time is a good way to acclimate them to temperature, as well as familiarizing them with weather conditions, their set up, etc.

Your birds have a good amount of feathering already so unless you're dealing with dramatically different temperate ranges from inside and out they shouldn't have too much trouble making the move.