How cold is too cold for outdoors?

[homesteadmama8]

Can you set the brooder in a room where you can close it off from the rest of the house and crack the window to keep the temp down lower in that room?
That can really help acclimate them to the colder temps.

That's a good idea! Maybe I'll try that

 

[gimmie birdies]

I don't like them being out until 9 weeks, and then not with the older hens right away, they will chase young hen some place cold, and hard to get to. One thing you may try is putting them out for the day, but penned where you can then collect them at night and put them some place warm for the evening.

 

[3KillerBs]

I don't like them being out until 9 weeks

9 weeks?

Do you have particularly slow-feathering breeds?

I had two batches off heat at just over 4 weeks and another batch, with slow-feathering Black Langshan boys, off heat by 6 weeks -- though that batch was in June.

 

[Ridgerunner]

how cold is too cold for them to be outdoors?

I took this photo when it was 4 F (-16 C). Yes that is ice on the ground. They are all adults. I leave the pop door open and let them decide where they want to be. As long as they are not being hit with a cold wind they don't seem to mind the temperature in this temperature range. The coldest I've seen them out foraging is -10 F (-23 C) but I haven't seen any weather colder than that so I don't know what they would do.

I have a brooder set up indoors with an EcoGlow brooding plate for the beginning weeks, and I know that they won't be fully feathered until about 6 weeks of age. But when can they handle colder weather and no heating? (temps of 35-55)

I've had chicks go through temperatures in the mid 20's F (-4 C) when they were 5-1/2 weeks old without supplemental heat. The coop they were in had great ventilation up high and great wind protection down where they were. And they had been acclimated to cold weather, the brooder was in the coop with one end kept warm and the other end cooling off to ambient. Sometimes that cold end had ice in it. They'd play in the cold end and go back to the warm end to warm up when they needed to.

The 55 F doesn't matter, it's the 35 F where you'd run into problems if you do run into problems. I raise mine differently than you do and I don't know what your facilities look like so I'm a bit reluctant to give you a specific age, but I'd think most chicks would be able to handle 35 F (2 C) by six weeks as long as they had a decent coop. Just because they "can" handle those temperatures doesn't mean hey have to, do what you are comfortable with.

 

[littlecoopnextdoor]

@Ridgerunner
thank you for putting Celsius in your post. I am constantly googling conversions for most of the Americans posts, and I appreciate not having to do that work this morning

 

[KatyKaye]

My problem is a little different. I have a wild game hen that is hatching eggs in a barrel in my shop building. I don't want to take the chicks from her but our weather is very unpredictable, from mid-60s down into the 20s at night. I have a rabbit hutch I could put her in as well as a flat pen (about 6x5x2 feet) that is partially enclosed.

This hen has never been in an area she couldn't leave and I'm worried about penning her up, as well as keeping the chicks warm enough. My hens have always done the chick raising so I am at a loss as to what to do to save these chicks. Advice please!

 

[Ridgerunner]

mid-60s down into the 20s at night.

Read this. I think they did a great job documenting a broody in weather colder than you will see.

Winter Brooding

http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/947046/broody-in-michigan-winter

I have a rabbit hutch I could put her in as well as a flat pen (about 6x5x2 feet) that is partially enclosed. This hen has never been in an area she couldn't leave and I'm worried about penning her up, as well as keeping the chicks warm enough. My hens have always done the chick raising so I am at a loss as to what to do to save these chicks. Advice please!

I think that will be plenty of room for her and the chicks, at least until you see by your own eyes that she can manage with little help from you.

 

[KatyKaye]

The article was helpful. Just a bit ago I found another of my game hens setting on a nest of seven eggs with one dead chick. I moved her - after getting bitten numerous times - into the rabbit hutch and left her setting quietly on the eggs. Also found my oldest barred rock bantam hen acting broody in a nest box. Guess these girls think spring has arrived.