How do I integrate chicks from living indoors to outside in winter?

[GracePoultry]

I unexpectedly ended up with some chicks a few days ago. (long story lol) By the time I will need to integrate them into my flock it will be very cold. I don't have electricity in my coop. Does anyone have any experience with this?

 

[Debbie292d]

You'll have to figure out how to keep them warm for about 6-weeks depending on breed. Can you make them a brooder in your garage assuming that has power?

After that, it could be very difficult to integrate young chicks with adult chickens but then they could be in there without heat so you could section something off for them so they'd be seen but not touched.

 

[NatJ]

I unexpectedly ended up with some chicks a few days ago. (long story lol) By the time I will need to integrate them into my flock it will be very cold. I don't have electricity in my coop. Does anyone have any experience with this?

Regarding the temperature more than the actual integration:

Obviously you start by brooding them indoors with a heat source.

At some point, you take away the heat source but they are still indoors for another week or more. At this point they are acclimated to indoor unheated-temperature, but not yet to outdoor temperature.

Sometime after that, you start exposing them to even cooler temperatures: maybe open a window in the room where the brooder is, or move them to an attached garage that is cooler than the house but warmer than outside, or take them outside for part of each day, or something of the sort. You can also combine things, so after a while they may be spending days in the coop (in a look-no-touch setup so they start getting to know the big chickens) and nights in a warmer place (house or garage, possibly with an open window).

Eventually, you pick a time and put them out full time. It's nice if you can pick a warm stretch in the weather rather than doing it during a cold snap. You will probably go out to check them several times in the first nights and days, but hopefully it will all go well.

I don't have a specific timeline for this, because chicks can grow their feathers at such different rates. At any given point, just think about whether they are ready to go to the next stage yet. Inside a house, you might be able to remove the extra heat before they even finish growing their first set of feathers (maybe when the bodies are feathered but the tops of their heads are still downy.) They definitely should be fully feathered before they start living outside full time with no supplemental heat.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Good points above. What do you have to work with? Where can you brood them? Inside your heated house, in an unheated basement, in a detached or attached garage, maybe an unheated outbuilding like a workshop with electricity. My preference is someplace that it will get cold to help them get acclimated with a brooder big enough that you can keep one end toasty warm in the coldest of temperatures and an area cool enough in the warmest of temperatures.

One of your biggest challenges in brooding in unheated areas is the changing temperatures. I brood in my unheated coop with a heat lamp. I've seen changes from below freezing to the mid 70's Fahrenheit in less than a day. When it is freezing one area of that 3' x 6' brooder can have ice in it but the other end is toasty warm. When it is in the 70's that end is way too hot but the chicks go to the far end where it is comfortable. Many people are surprised at how much time they spend in the cooler portions of that brooder. It is similar to a broody hen raising chicks in cold weather. The chicks spend time in the cold looking for food or just playing, but when they get cold they go to Mommy to warm up. They get acclimated to colder temperatures pretty quickly.

I get the added benefit that by raising the chicks in the coop it makes integration much easier. Without electricity in your coop you can't do that. I think some of the advantages of raising them in cold if you can is that they tend to feather out faster and acclimate earlier. If you can avoid brooding them in the living area of your house you avoid the dust many people complain about, some people don't like the noise, and some brooders can stink if you don't keep them dry and cleaned out. Some people love having the chicks in the house where they are easier to interact with while others can't wait to get them out.

Good luck!