I have some 3 month old babies that are still fairly small. It dropped to the single digits so I brought some of the banties inside for the night. But now that they are in I worry if it will be harder on their systems to come in and then have to go back outside. Any advice?
I just place a doz. of 2-3 weeks old baby chickens in to the out side coop as of Monday , I did place a heat lamp in there cage 2' x 3' x2' which is serpaded from the main flock, I cover the door of the cage with poly and place a heat lamp and the temp is about 70-80*F in there where as the main coop temp is about 50-60*F and the out side temp is about 30 - 35*F and all is doing well . where are you from this might be very helpful to us to help you. Was is the temp outside vs the inside of the coop . can you place a heat lamp in there for the night alan
Yes, it is very hard on their systems to go from quite cold to warm and back again. Possumqueen had a lot of problems with sick birds when she did that. Do you have an area inside that is fairly cold, like in the garage? Say just above freezing, or less than 45 degrees? I am very concerned when I hear about people bringing the chickens inside for the night--I hope they are not bringing them into a 60 degree house and then expecting to put them back outside in 20 degrees after a few days! What temperature range are you talking about (inside and outside)?
I try to avoid drops of more than 10-20F depending on age and whether they've been outside before. Inside you not only have warmer temperatures but you have no changes. I doubt your house changes more than 5F in a day and probably less than that unless you change your thermostat for different times of the day. Outside you have temp changes from day to night they have to get used to as well as just a colder temp. It's best not to bring them in unless you plan to keep them in all winter. Better to try to give them more heat in the coop if you are worried. If there is an inbetween area like an enclosed porch, basement, or partially heated garage/shop they can go in to for a couple days before going back outside that would be ideal. Otherwise you'll just have to provide some heat in the coop to help them adjust back down to the cold. I put mine on a screened porch with plastic up and a heat lamp for a few weeks before moving them in the coop if it's during cold parts of the year. I'm kind of stuck with some serama and bantam EE chicks inside though because they are way too small and we dropped quickly to well below freezing and even negatives.
We decided to onlty do it last night. We are in NW Arkansas, so last week it was in the 40-50's and this week it is in the teens in the day and single digits at night. I would imagine that my coop is not much warmer than outdoors. Our house though is only heated by wood stove so the hottest we get is in the mid 60's but at night when the fire dies its in the 40's or so. I just need to get some tarps and cover my coop.
Quote:I would keep them inside a garage. Something to take the edge off of the bitter cold. Good luck.
