Looking for Winter Advice- What do you wish you had known

[cajunlizz]

YES 8x12 is plenty big enough for them . I would put them inside the coop ASAP . The more room for them the better .

 

[MARSON2]

Hi,

My brooder is 6' x 8' they seem to have room now, they are only 3 weeks
old today. After they go into the coop, do I need the brooder light.

Jim

 

[Tuffoldhen]

They won't fully feather out til they are 8 to 10 weeks old and in winter weather yes they would need a heat source for alittle longer. They will chill easy this time of year.

 

[A.J.'s]

Quote:
YOU SAID

I don't use heat lamps even on baby chicks and ducks unless it's really cold and then only for maybe a week in the brooder box till

I just have a hard time beleiving this! I have 7 3 week old chicks.. Im tired of them being inside. Im so tempted to put them out with the others, but doubt if i would even if it was summer time. The older ones would probably kill them.
In the summer i put them in a 4x8 x4x8 cage in the open range near the coop door, the older ones get used to them and in a week or so i turn them out. If I did this now they would be in the cold wind and i feel they would freeze to death. Even in the chicken house it would be very cold. tonight they are huddled together in the box under a light bulb and probably would be happier if i lowered it some.
How good this would be, but i doubt very much if it would work. Im in tennessee its cold here tonight probably just 30 but thats cold and its snowing some. very lightly but its cold out there!

where is your thread? its 37 out side cold as far north as im ever gonna go.. brrrrrrr school closed today for the flurries we had.. flurries and your kids are going to school in snow feet deep.. !!! ohmygawd

 

[ruth]

A.J.'s :

Quote:
YOU SAID

I don't use heat lamps even on baby chicks and ducks unless it's really cold and then only for maybe a week in the brooder box till

I just have a hard time beleiving this! I have 7 3 week old chicks.. Im tired of them being inside. Im so tempted to put them out with the others, but doubt if i would even if it was summer time. The older ones would probably kill them.
In the summer i put them in a 4x8 x4x8 cage in the open range near the coop door, the older ones get used to them and in a week or so i turn them out. If I did this now they would be in the cold wind and i feel they would freeze to death. Even in the chicken house it would be very cold. tonight they are huddled together in the box under a light bulb and probably would be happier if i lowered it some.
How good this would be, but i doubt very much if it would work. Im in tennessee its cold here tonight probably just 30 but thats cold and its snowing some. very lightly but its cold out there!

where is your thread? its 37 out side cold as far north as im ever gonna go.. brrrrrrr school closed today for the flurries we had.. flurries and your kids are going to school in snow feet deep.. !!! ohmygawd

Hi and welcome to BYC. Here's my "Journey" thread - it's quite long with lots of pictures since it began in March.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=36944

I assure you chicks can run around in the cold and be just fine. Right now I have 5 baby chicks, hatched last month (4 weeks old), that are in coop, without a light at night and it's 20s-30s at night. They have a mama hen that hatched them and stayed with them till a few nights ago and then she started roosting on the roosts again and the babies just camp out on the floor (so they have never had a light). During the day, they free range with every one else.

Also today, I turned loose about 40 chicks that also hatched last month without a mama and have been being raised in a pen with lights. They started dropping dead yesterday and best I can tell they either have worms or cocci. My theory is because they have been in a pen, in the coop, under lights since they hatched last month - same time as the 5 babies with the mama. But the ones that have been free ranging with the mama, outside in the cold every day, are feathered and independent. This is the first time I've lost baby chicks and I truly believe it's because they have been inside coop, without fresh air and sunshine, and living in their own droppings (of course I clean the pen regularly) but there's just no comparison to being able to run around in sunshine, fresh air, eat grass and bugs, etc. I'll never keep babies in a pen again. I thought it was too cold for them and that it was the best thing to do but I started noticing them becoming lethargic and just huddling under the light. The ones that I've raised outside for the past two years are never huddled up or lethargic, they are constantly running around.

There are also other threads by those that live up north and some have chicks and chickens running around in negative temps.

Good luck with whatever you do. I think it will take weening them off the heat. You can't just toss them out in the cold when they haven't been raised in it.

And as far as the thought that the older hens/roosters will kill the babies, I've never seen mine ever bother the babies. The babies do learn to stay out of their face and as long as everyone has plenty of room, there's no problem. The only ones I saw pecking at the 40 babies I dumped out today were the peacocks that are being raised with the chickens and ducks and that was only for the first few minutes. They seemed to be attracted to the Polish top hats. They kept picking up the little top hat babies by their hats but I didn't see them hurt anyone.​

 

[A.J.'s]

thank you so much for the long reply.. its appreciated. Im going today start lowering the temp in the box where my chicks are and im going to get th em outside soon. I have a dog pen adapted for chicks with a dog house in it that i use for chicks.. ive never used it int his type weather but im going to. i feel sorry for them sitting in that box and not able to run and jump.
tooooo it does get dirty. and the water and feed are always a mess, no matter how often i clean it.

thanks for the wish of luck..

 

[jennv1111]

we live close to the 50th parallel, the northern most point of wa st. it is 12 degrees as we speak and they say it may turn cold soon...
i am lucky enough to have a very old chicken house type coop. they share part of their space with 2 small alpacas for the winter Im using wood shavings on the floor and putting up a outer layer of tyvek type material around the building itself. ( recycling old large grain bags) and extra thick plastic over their windows hopefully our 11 girls & 2 guys will all make it thru happy & healthy w/ all their toes intract:. Oh we did opt for a heat lamp for them as well. they seam pretty okay really heavily plummed birds. Buff orphs' gotta love em. peace jenn

e

 

[A.J.'s]

[. Just give them a draft free yet well ventilated, safe space and they'll do just fine. by Reinbeau


ive tried and tried to find out just what this means... draft free well ventilated.. oxymoron?

 

[cajunlizz]

Quote:
YES , buff's are quiet heartyand healthy breed of birds . I have about 15 buff's that are about 3.5 months old . Can you tell me around what age can I expect them to lay ? I have RIR's , black austrolorps and barred rocks that are ALL 8 months old and they JUST starting to lay now

 

[Mrs MIA]

A.J.'s :

[. Just give them a draft free yet well ventilated, safe space and they'll do just fine. by Reinbeau


ive tried and tried to find out just what this means... draft free well ventilated.. oxymoron?

You don't want any drafts directly on the birds, like an open door would create. But if you have a couple of vents, up high, to allow fresh air in, you'll be well off.

No, it's not an oxymoron. You don't want it "air-tight", just not drafty.​