Is the temp right?

[Ecto04]

I’m in Northwestern Wyoming, not too far from Yellowstone Park. Here we can see snow any month of the year. What is “chick season” in the spring for much of the country is still winter here, with temps in the teens and twenties with sideways blowing snow!

Now that the scene is set, I also brood directly outdoors in a wire pen in the run. Yes, even in those temps! I also use Mama Heating Pad for the chicks. They spend more time out of their “cave”, running around, exploring, and learning to be chickens by watching the adults (who were also raised this way, batch after batch) than they do underneath. By 3 weeks the pad is turned down to minimum warmth, and by 4 weeks they are done, and that was a decision they made, not me. So the brooder and the heating pad comes out and they are fully integrated with the flock and perfectly acclimated to our temps.

I think yours are telling you they are not needing much heat and they are trying to acclimate to ambient temps.

Thanks! As a first time chick mama I’m a bit overprotective, I think. That being said, I feel really good about discontinuing the heat. I took them outside for a field trip this afternoon. It’s barely 70 here but they were quite content. I’m sure they will be fine this last week or so in the 65ish basement.