Moving chickens outside

[ChristinaH]

Hi! My name is Christina. I live in Wisconsin. We acquired chicks in October and have been raising them in the basement due to the cold. On Sunday we acquired two bantam roosters and our girls started laying Monday. I want to move them to the coop since one of our roosters won't stop crowing! My question is will the change in temperature bother them? I was planning to wait until it was warmer (currently in 30-40's) but the rooster is driving the house crazy! Any advice is welcome.

 

[sumi]

Welcome to BYC

Unless there is a really big difference in temperature between the basement and the coop they'll be fine. They should've been outside awhile ago already . Chickens are quite tough and their feathers do a good job keeping them warm.

 

[TwoCrows]

Like Sumi said, as long as the temp difference is not too huge, it should be fine to move them outside. You can always take the heat lamp outside and use it at night only for a week or so till they adjust to the new temps.

Great to have you aboard and enjoy BYC!

 

[Kelsie2290]

Hello and Welcome To BYC! X3, they should be fine if the temperature difference is not too great, you can use the heat lamp outside if it is cold at night, or you could also put them outside during the day and bring them back inside to the basement at night for a week or two to get them used more gradually to the cold.

 

[ChristinaH]

I would have moved them out but we have had -30 windchills and the coop needed a little work. We finally got to it this weekend and will be moving them out on Wednesday once this cold snap is over.

 

[gander007]