Moving chicks to coop with no heat?

[sheag]

Hi all. I have eight chicks that are about ten days old. They are currently happy in their cardboard Backyard Brooder box. However, I screwed up by getting the chicks before really planning how to get a coop, and I am now racing to build one because I live in Hawaii and can't find anyone to ship me a pre-fab one without it costing a fortune and taking 7-8 weeks. Silly me though I could just have one shipped to be in a couple weeks or so. I am on a solar system and so we cannot support an infrared heat lamp, but I've been using the Eco-Glow lamp and it appears to be working great. Even though I'm in Hawaii, I live up a mountain and it doesn't get hot here...max temps are in the 70s and at night we get into the 50s. My question is, I will not have electricity in the new coop... will it be ok once its built to move the chicks into it (I'm assuming I'll do this sometime between 4-5 weeks old, assuming I can get something built!) without any heat source?

 

[Blooie]

I also made the mistake of getting the chicks before we built the coop, so I brooded mine inside the house. What a mess - and never again! Mine were outside by 5.5 weeks.....and it was in the 20s. It snowed the second or third night they were out there. The first night they had a heat lamp and they huddled together to sleep. I kept running out to check on them and they were fine. The second night I also had the heat lamp on them, but when I checked on them during the night they were huddled together in the corner by the pop door - not even under the lamp. It came out, they stayed out, and from that night on I stayed IN.....no more running outside in jammmies, robe and snow boots. If they are well feathered they will be just fine at the ages you're talking about, especially in Hawaii. Here in northern Wyoming, not far from Yellowstone Park, they are thriving. They're now 18 weeks old and I'm getting my first eggs.

Edited to add: We haven't been out of the 40s at night more than 3 or 4 times so far this summer.

 

[annimon]

The hot weather changed suddenly on the day i put out my two four week old chicks. I put in an old fashioned hot water bottle under a bath mat and cover with hay. They were still warm in the morning. A wheat bag might do the same.

 

[sheag]

Thanks. The hot water bottle is a good idea, I may consider doing that. Otherwise I'll also probably be running out there in my jammies at all hours to check on them...lol.