Moving chicks to coop early

[Mrstwoseven]

Hey everyone,

my name is Brett and I’m a first time Chicken Mom. I have 8 Rhode Island reds who are two weeks old tomorrow. I had them in a Rubbermaid bin in our shop but they recently started flying out. Today I moved them into half our coop with their heat lamp. It’s getting as low as 6 degrees C here at night, I’m in central Washington state. (I’m Canadian so I use Celsius) so I was thinking of putting a space heater in there as well? I was told not to put them out, even with supplemental heat until nights are consistently above 10c at night. Obviously I’ll be devastated if I lose any of my girls! Please let me know what you all think! Thank you! -B

 

[Ridgerunner]

I put chicks in this brooder in my coop even when the outside temps are below freezing. +6 C is about 43 F, well above that. When it's that cold I wrap it better than this photo shows.

As long as you can keep one spot warm enough in the coolest temperatures and one spot cool enough in the warmest weather the chicks are really good at self-regulating. How well can you do that?

To me the biggest challenge in brooding outside is the temperature swings. I've had it go from below freezing to the 70's F (Above 21 C) within 36 hours. My 3' x 6' brooder can handle that. Not sure if you can with your set-up.

Your chicks don't care what the temperature is in Idaho. They don't even care what temperature it is in central Washington State around them. They just care what the temperature is where they are.

 

[Mrstwoseven]

They have space to move to the heat or away if need be. So I assume they’ll be fine. Thanks for the help!