Moving chicks outside with sudden temp drop

[DonyaQuick]

I have a pair of 8-week-old chicks, a cockerel called Vanilla Bean and a pullet called Coco Bean, collectively "the beans." They are barnyard mixes of Cochin, BR, and BO. They are built like little sumo wrestlers but are not very big otherwise; maybe 2.5lbs right now. They are fully feathered but their feathers are long and narrow, and they blow all over in the wind, so I'll have to keep them more protected from the wind than my others. This is the situation I'm in with them:

• They are inside right now and have only done daytime outside so far.
• I can't integrate the beans with my main flock and they do not have a broody to stay with them. They will just have each other to stay warm in their own setup if they are outside (I know just 2 smallish birds is not great for maintaining warmth in a cold climate).
• Outdoor temps got colder suddenly. My area was getting 55-65F daytime and high 40s at night. Now it is suddenly 20s daytime outdoors and predicted to be 10-15F at night with snow and freezing rain this week.
• The beans did not take 30F well yesterday even though there was no wind. They huddled and shivered, Vanilla Bean was trying to shelter Coco Bean under him, and they kind of panic-run to me to burrow into my clothing for warmth whenever I checked on them. I didn't leave them outside after that since none of my older chicks or adult hens ever did that when it got cold and it seemed like a red flag that I was pushing their limit keeping them out there. It wasn't just a little bit of vibrating - they seemed quite miserable and kept shivering heavily for some time after coming indoors.
• Coldest indoor temps I can manage is low 60s. That leaves a big temperature gap with outside that will get bigger over time.

Without getting into the long and stupid saga of how I ended up in this situation...how worrisome is the huddling/shivering and indoor/outdoor temperature gap I'm up against? Does moving them outside and unheated 24/7 still seem doable with those circumstances or am I looking at needing them indoors/heated through the winter due to having screwed up on my timing with this?

Normally I wouldn't worry about the temps and my other birds and older chicks are fine. I've never seen any of them act the way the beans did when it got cold though, let alone at a mere 30F (lows can be more like -15F in Jan).

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

They need to acclimate to cooler temperatures. I would provide extra heat, perhaps one of those panels. They do not have the fat reserves to go through acclimating from inside temperatures to cold outside temperatures. Shivering is a sign of hypothermia. I would bring them back in and rethink the situation. It isn't about the numbers, it's about what they are used to.

 

[DonyaQuick]

They need to acclimate to cooler temperatures. I would provide extra heat, perhaps one of those panels. They do not have the fat reserves to go through acclimating from inside temperatures to cold outside temperatures. Shivering is a sign of hypothermia. I would bring them back in and rethink the situation. It isn't about the numbers, it's about what they are used to.

Ah....the part about the fat reserves makes a lot of sense, thank you! I doubt they have much in the way of fat reserves at the moment. Once I have the outdoor outlet I can try to keep them warmer while still giving them outside time by bundling up the run with windbreaks and then having the heat panel within. It has a low temp setting that is safe to the touch but still managed to heat up the brooder room a bit, so that will probably work to keep a smaller space within their tolerance range. And I will keep their indoor setup intact should that not work out. I did bring them back in as soon as I got worried that I was seeing distress, so they have been in since yesterday afternoon and I will keep them in until I can do the heat panel outside.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Even my older birds had a bit of troubles with the sudden drop in temperatures we had here. If you warm back up a bit hopefully you can continue to get your chicks used to the lower temperatures.

 

[McChooky]

My chicks are out of the wind and weather but aren't feathered out so they stay underneath the heater when its cold.They play when the temperatures above 50-60

 

[DonyaQuick]

Even my older birds had a bit of troubles with the sudden drop in temperatures we had here. If you warm back up a bit hopefully you can continue to get your chicks used to the lower temperatures.

It actually got so awful here for a bit that I had to put plastic sheeting on my main flock's setup like I was trying to turn it into a greenhouse! A couple of my adult hens are still molting and it just kept getting colder for a while. Last year I managed the whole winter with just a few wood panels to add some wind shelter but I guess I can't do that this time between the molting adults and the youngsters. Temperatures bounced back to being more reasonable a couple days ago and I got my two youngsters back out into their dedicated outdoor coop/run for a few hours per day again. They are doing good down to 40F so far. Just got my outdoor outlet installed so I should finally be able to set them up with their brooder heater on colder days! Even if I have to go through the winter still bringing the two little ones back in at night to be on the safe side, that'll be a lot more manageable than keeping them inside 24/7.

 

[McChooky]

I gave my chicks a momma hen heating pad in the coop but they still spend most of their time under the heat. in their dog crate. The heat will be too much once they're feathered out .They'll choose where they're more comfortable if you give them the option.

 

[Mrs. K]

I do believe in giving them the option as being the most important thing.

Just keep taking them outside, and leaving them outside for longer periods of time. The more you leave them outside, the more acclimated they will get.

A lot of people seem to fret about wide swings in temperatures, but I live in western SD and it is not uncommon for us to have huge swings of 70+ degrees. It is not uncommon for us to go from 70 degrees to 20 degrees at night. And when cold fronts come through, it can drop a lot in hours, and my birds do fine.

At 8.5 weeks they are big enough. I think they were upset because it was a strange place. I do think you need wind protection, and good bedding on the ground. A rubbermaid tote, laid on its side with a bit of hay inside, will let them be in the sunshine out of the wind.

I find birds need time outs, so they will be out in the wind and the cold, and then take a break, getting in some protection and warm up.

Do keep an eye on them, but I would be Leary of adding heat. Think DRY and WIND protection - a little acclimation and they will have enough feathers to keep themselves warm.

Each bird keeps themself warm. Think of being in a football stadium, your winter coat really does nothing for the person sitting next to you. You keep your warmth, that person keeps theirs. When we huddle together, what we are really doing is blocking the wind. That is what your birds need too.

Mrs K

 

[DonyaQuick]

Do keep an eye on them, but I would be Leary of adding heat. Think DRY and WIND protection - a little acclimation and they will have enough feathers to keep themselves warm.

I also thought they'd be old enough but they are both really light on feather density compared to what my earlier batch of chicks were like at a similar age. The panel-type heater I have in with them when they're outside now is quite minimal as far as the heat it gives; it's on the lowest setting, so it doesn't really heat the area but they can go stand against it and get some warmth. I have seen them doing that periodically when the temperature drops below 40F even with the area wrapped in wind breaks. They have a lot of pin feathers coming in around their backs and sides right now, so I'm hoping that's extra fluffy feathers coming in that will help them with the temperatures. There's very little sun with the current weather; everything gets cold and damp even in covered/protected areas unless they are buttoned up quite tight like a house.

 

[DonyaQuick]

Just to give an update on this...Coco and Vanilla Bean are outside during the day but I am still bringing them in at night. After having a bout of minus digits, which was pretty brutal on my older chicks and too much for the Beans, things warmed back up enough that I was going to try to move them out 24/7 since they are big warm fluffy things now. But I have a new problem.

Mr. Vanilla Bean...in the coldest part of winter, why did you have to grow such an enormous comb and giant dangly wattles that are somehow even bigger than the ones on my much older outdoor cockerel boys?

He can now handle down to about 18F no problem, but below that his comb/wattles start turning bad blotchy light and dark colors VERY fast. His comb/wattles are quite thin although they are slowly thickening up. The rest of him would be fine at cold temps and his sister would be good to go with her tiny comb, but I'm just not willing to risk subjecting Vanilla to a potentially aggressive shave and haircut due to frostbite if the weather report is wrong. A little bit of frostbite on the tips I expect with him at some point because basically all roosters get that at some point around here...but the timing with his age, the comb/wattle development, and the weather is just not in his favor.

Anyway, the weather reporting has been off by 10F quite often so I can't trust that to know when it'll be below Vanilla Bean's current temperature tolerance. Just yesterday I had a low estimate of 18-20F overnight and then woke up to 9F at 7AM with high humidity this morning. Nasty conditions. Better safe than sorry so...I still have outdoor chickens by day and indoor chickens by night in an unheated room for the time being. Mornings are loud, but that's ok.

I will just be sure to not hatch after July in the future so this doesn't happen again.