I'm Pulling Out My Hair! Aaah

[Chicky Joy]

I think my husband and I are nuts! We have an extremely high egg demand that we haven't been able to keep up with for over six months. So, we decided to get chicks in November so we would have new birds ready to lay by spring. We decided to get 25, well 26 when you count that free rare breed chick. The problem is that I can't stand keeping them in the basement any longer. So, I think they are going to have to be booted out to the garage a little earlier than the traditional 8 weeks. They are 5 weeks now, and all feathered out. They are a good size for their age and all healthy and happy. They haven't had any sort of heat lamp on them for about two weeks or more.

We need to set up our section of the garage where they will be staying. We're going to use what we have to make a sectioned off area for them. I haven't decided if I'll use a regular heat lamp or a plain old light for heat. Is it safe to use a heat lamp if we decide to use straw in the bottom of the pen? I'm sure we'd hang the lamp well above the bottom of the pen. They don't need to be super warm since they are already used to 50-60 degree temps. I also wanted to ask, at what temps can chicks survive in the coop under a hen's care at this age?

The bottom line is, they have to get out of the basement

or I'm going to go crazy.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Put them in the garage with the heat lamp. The are too young to go into the coop with the older chickens. They'll get beat up, or worse, killed.

 

[Chicky Joy]

They won't be put in the coop with the adults for another 6 weeks or so. The first step is out in the garage. We do have cold temps here so I'm a little curious as to how other people handle chicks in this sort of weather. When we've had chicks in the past I put them out in a chicken tractor at 4 weeks. This was in mid September when the weather was still rather warm.

 

[Chicky Joy]

I couldn't take the smell and mess anymore, even after cleaning the brooders last night. We moved them all out last night. I was a little nervous because it was only 10 degrees or so. We had a fire going in the woodstove until two this morning but it was never very warm in there. My hubby hung a work light above the brooders before he went in the house. Everyone was lively and well this morning. I was very glad. They're tough little birds. I don't think they get enough credit sometimes.

 

[Happy Chooks]

My 8 week olds were out in an uninsulated coop last night without any light/lamp. It got below freezing outside last night (outside waterer froze) and they were all fine this morning.