moving chicks out to the coop in winter

[starkist72]

Hi all!

We had to relocate our favorite frizzled rooster this summer, and were given some eggs from the farmer who took him to try for some offspring. (my kids wanted to keep him, but he was as accurate as a clock and MUCH louder! It was a hard choice)

I have eggs set to hatch soon! the first week of December they will be about 8 weeks.
We're going to need some space for that Christmas tree and I'd like to get them out of my kitchen ASAP

I'm hoping to move them out to the coop (probably separated from my 2 hens, who will be about 9 months then,somehow) but I'm nervous about a heat lamp in the coop, and I would rather acclimate the older chickens to the cold rather than heat the whole coop

My questions are:
what are my options for keeping them warm?
can I use a heat pad or something to provide heat if they need it without heating the whole coop? (the ecoglow is expensive, is there anything else?)
How early can I move them out?
we're only keeping 3 or 4, should I keep more for the winter so that they can keep each other warm?

Thanks for your help!!!

 

[starkist72]

here are a few pictures, I'm planning on lining the mesh under the coop with hay to make a sheltered outdoor area hopefully insulating the "basement" will keep the floor a little warmer. The loft is a drop-down floor level with the window. The windows are insulated (much nicer than the ones in the people house The nest boxes are external, and I've lined the one the chicks sleep in with a towel (they get chased out of the one the big chicken uses for laying) The pop door goes into the run and is wide open, I'm thinking I might do pop-door curtains, but don't want the chicks to get stuck outside and am just hesitating on everything.

 

[eje99]

I Love your coop! And I love that your son seems to like it as well. It's so hard to settle on a design and figure out what you'll need, especially if you've never done this before!

Our coop is based on a design found on this site - the Midlife Crisis Coop. I showed the pictures of it to my husband, and this is his interpretation of it. The coop is 6x8 with interior nest boxes that are raised, so there is still available floor space under them. There are 4 roosts, each 4 ' long. The egg door is on the front and opens downward. The right side has two large doors that swing wide open and make clean out a breeze - I just scrape the dirty stuff into a tote, then toss it into the compost! On the back side are two more large doors that open to an attached, yet separate storage area. In here I keep food and miscellaneous supplies.

The attached run is is 8' x 10 or 12' (I forget). It's covered in hardware cloth that is buried in the ground. The door swings in so it will still operate if there is heavy snow outside. I like that it's covered as the birds have a dry and snow-free place to hang out. I figure I'll rake it/clean it out when necessary and claim the "mess" for the compost pile.

Clearly, it's not yet finished. In order to block cold wins and keep snow out of the run, I've put plastic sheeting up around the run.

As for the water - I purchased a heated dog bowl and that's all the local TSC had in stock. It worked, as far as keeping water thawed, but boy did it get dirty quickly. If I wanted to changed out the water 2 or three times a day, I wouldn't worry about heating it. I then ordered a heated base from Amazon. I LOVE IT! I use it with the regular gravity waterer and it works great. I'm keeping it in the run, not the coop, and the base raises the waterer off the ground enough that it stays cleaner.
So far, so good!


The little coop in the picture is one I borrowed from a neighbor (I knocked on their door and introduced myself, then asked to borrow their coop - my husband thought I was crazy!) I used it while integrating three different ages of chicks into one flock.

 

[lightchick]

Is it possible that one of your hens will go broody and raise the chicks? I'd actually slowly get the chicks used to the colder temp. How cold is your winter usually? I put my 3 week old chicks outside when it was only 50 degrees outside.

 

[Judy]

At 8 weeks they should be fully feathered and able to live outdoors. I would acclimate then, though, by taking them for outings for several days before moving them. Just be sure they have a draft free place to sleep. I would also provide a bunch of hay that they can snuggle into for sleep if they wish.

 

[starkist72]

Probably not going to go broody on me, I have a Rhode Island Red who has been laying 2 weeks and an Easter Egger not laying yet.

We're in New England so winters are cold. (central Massachusetts)

The coop has ventilation in the eves, isn't insulated but has insulated glass windows. We just built it this summer, we planned big windows to let in the sunshine but they should be pretty draft-free.

 

[lightchick]

I think they'll be fine as long as you let them get used the the cold!

 

[starkist72]

At 8 weeks they should be fully feathered and able to live outdoors. I would acclimate then, though, by taking them for outings for several days before moving them. Just be sure they have a draft free place to sleep. I would also provide a bunch of hay that they can snuggle into for sleep if they wish.

hay sounds like a great idea! I wonder if they would snuggle up in the loft if I filled it with hay. It might keep the whole coop a tad warmer too.

I wonder if there's a heat pad, or reptile rock or something I could put into the nesting box the bigger girls aren't using to give the little ones some shelter.

I need to read up on how to introduce the new chicks to the pullets, i have no idea how it's going to work out

 

[lightchick]

I had my 4 week old chicks in with my 13 week old chicks. I did have to put a little box in there with a hole in it so they had a place to hide from the bigger girls. I also had several feeding and watering places for them.

 

[starkist72]

I had my 4 week old chicks in with my 13 week old chicks. I did have to put a little box in there with a hole in it so they had a place to hide from the bigger girls. I also had several feeding and watering places for them.

great idea! thank you, i'd hate them to all be stuck together if they were getting picked on