Getting them ready for coop

[partsRheavy]

Out with a lamp. In my mind they get too rowdy/messy at 3 weeks.

But little tiny housebaby fuzzies are so sweet until they become Munchkins with big eyes, stronger beaks, chicken-you-know-what, and a desire to jump out of their box!!!!

 

[Mark & Nique]

How did it go with the move outside?

 

[jmtcmkb]

Mark & Nique :

How did it go with the move outside?

Thanks for asking it went very well so far

Today will be their 4th evening and so far so good and temps have dropped into 20*s in the evenings. I let them out into the run this afternoon and they enjoyed and so did I

Got to snuggle my favorite in my wool sweater and she just loved it up

 

[Mark & Nique]

Great! We have four Red Stars that are six weeks old who will be sleeping out for the first time this week. Our temps (in South Carolina) aren't nearly as polar as yours, not to mention your snow fall.

 

[jmtcmkb]

Mark & Nique :

Great! We have four Red Stars that are six weeks old who will be sleeping out for the first time this week. Our temps (in South Carolina) aren't nearly as polar as yours, not to mention your snow fall.

Good luck with them!! I am telling you it's hard.......I so want to go give them a blanket or something!! Ha-ha, it boggles my mind, my chickens would rather huddle together than go under the ecoglow right under the heat, so they must be fine- My fingers were stinging this morning changng their frozen water over, they seemed to be cold but fine. I am guessing if they have made it through 4 nights of this they will be okay...

Luckily we are warming up over the next few days, but tonight will be 26*

 

[fiddlebanshee]

Yea mine are huddled together on their roost too. The heatlamp doesn't come on until later tonight (it's on a timer) and they are fine, temps in the coop have been in the low thirties. I hope to have them weened off the lamp by the end of the week.

I just checked on them and they are on the top roost!! Yeay! They've finally figured out that those flat wooden things in the top half of the coop are for sleeping. I'm so proud of them. I never put them up there physically, and they figured this out all by themselves. I also heard definite clucks today, in stead of peeps. They're growing up! 7 weeks today. How time flies.

I think putting a little nite light above the roosts helped them choose the roost to sit on. These things do not give off any measurable heat so it must be the light that attracted them to go roost in stead of sleep on the floor.

 

[jmtcmkb]

Quote:
Oh yes, so what kind of night lite? A solar powered ? I have my plug for the ecoglow cleverly hidden in the nesting box that is blocked off at the moment, not sure I could get electricity up near the roosts. Thye roost all day on the roosting boards, but huddle in the corner on the floor for bed time...

 

[fiddlebanshee]

No, it's a regular one. I have two outlets right above the roosts because that's where my brooder was. You could run an extension cord through a piece of PVC pipe and fasten it near the roosts so that they can't peck at the cord.

But I also think if you leave them time (yours are a week younger than mine) they may figure this out on their own even w/o a light.

 

[callmecordelia2]

I'm in a similar boat. A skunk killed 5 of our 7 chicks this summer two days after they were transitioned outdoors. The two survivors turned out to be roosters, and the neighbors were not happy with the 5 a.m. wake-up, so we gave them to a farm. My kids were heartbroken, so I ordered 6 Barred Rock bantam hens which arrived the first week of October. They were in the basement with a heat lamp till 10 days ago when we lost power for a couple of days, so I put them in the living room to be near the warmth of the fire. Power is back on, and temps in the house are between 60-65. They are still in my living room. My kids take them outside for awhile each day at midday when the temps outside are also in the low 60s. But it gets down to 30 at night these days, and the warm days won't last long. Should I put them out? Heat lamp on at night for awhile, and turned off during the day, is my thinking. Any thoughts? When should I skip the heat lamp? These are the first chicks I've ever gotten in the fall. My others were always spring arrivals with plenty of time to transition to cold weather. Thanks.

 

[jmtcmkb]

Quote:
I dont know if you treat bantams differently than others, but I would say yes, put them out now with a heat lamp available. We have had a warm spell here the past few days, but when I put mine out it got down in the 20's in the evening and they did fine and they have yet to use their ecoglow... it's still there, but I havent seem them go under except for the first day.

Good luck!!

ps- I got mine last week of Sept!