Ok so today my Chickens are 3 weeks old and putting on some big time weight. I want to move them outside in my chicken tractor but it still gets around 40-45 degrees out at night.
Can I still put them out and just put a heat Lamp in there? Currently they are in the basement with no heat lamp as it is about 70-75 degrees in there and they seem fine
they are almost fully feathered, I have been feedinging them for the past week 12 hours on and 12 hours off but they are starting to stink like I never smelled that much poop all at once.
I am going to process a few next week for some cornish game hen sized
Can I still put them out and just put a heat Lamp in there? Currently they are in the basement with no heat lamp as it is about 70-75 degrees in there and they seem fine
they are almost fully feathered, I have been feedinging them for the past week 12 hours on and 12 hours off but they are starting to stink like I never smelled that much poop all at once.
I am going to process a few next week for some cornish game hen sized
I like to put them out in the morning on a sunny day, once it has warmed up, say around 9 or 10 am. That way they have the whole day to adjust. At night, I throw a tarp over the whole chicken tractor to stop draughts for the first 2 or 3 nights. After that, they have acclimated. Forget the heat lamp, you don't need it anymore. Its their feathers that really keep them warm, and if you keep them in the brood space much longer, the feather quality will start to decline due to humidity and dirtiness. Salatin says they can manage below freezing by 3 weeks.
