NEED ANSWERS ON CHICKS and Cold weather

[JustAChickenLittle&More]

I need to find out how old chicks have to be before you put them outside in the coop/run in Ky when it's Cold? It is about 21 degrees out here right now. I have three totes full of chicks. One tote is full of 6-8 week old chicks and they are tryinging to fly (well....Jump out, they are silkies). We built them some hen houses out of wood and I was thinking about putting carpet over the outside to keep out the cold, putting a 250 watt lightbulb in the coop/run.? They are fully feathered now, but I just need a little feedback on this subject from others who live in the cold states? I know everybody don't keep their chickens in the house. I would at least like to get these older ones out in the pen if it won't hurt them? Thank you!

 

[Judy]

8 weeks is usually considered fully feathers so they should be fine. I don't know a thing about silkies, though.

 

[jen5680]

Once they are all feathered they should be fine. We are really cold too and I jsut put a 250 heat bulb
with them and mine have all been fine.
Nice thick bedding too.

 

[JustAChickenLittle&More]

Thank you so much.

 

[Pretty Pony]

I have been waiting to put my 12 wk old chicks out in the coop. Right now they are in a huge dog crate in the basement which only gets down to 50 degrees inside when it is -10 degrees at night!

 

[midget_farms]

If you feel guilty about putting them out too early add a heat lamp - or just a bare bulb so if they want they can crowd under it.

By 8 weeks though they will huddle with each other if they get cold. They will be fine.

 

[JulieNKC]

I just put my 4 9-12 week old silkies outside a few weeks ago. They seem to be happier with more room, and it dropped to close to 0 at night a few days after I put them out there and they are doing great. They are in an uninsulated, but secure and draft free coop with no heat because I am more paranoid about looking out and seeing my coop on fire than the chickens freezing. There are 5 17 week old BO's out there too, but the big chickens and little chickens pretty much just stay in their own lil cliques. Reminds me of high school when I go out there, lol.

 

[tyler]

We put are small flock of orpington's out at 10 week's old.
Are orpington's are fine and it is 20 outdoors.

 

[Gray Ghost]

I put my latest batch of chicks (welsummers, RIRs and wyandottes) into an unheated coop when they were six weeks. That was around the beginning of December and it was cold here then (in the teens and below at night). They looked fully feathered to me at that time. I added a heat lamp to the unheated coop for a week, just in case.

They were fine. At first they huddled under the heat lamp, and after I took it away they huddled together in a corner. Eventually they learned to use the roosts.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Condition them down to the colder temps and their feathers will respond. They cannot do this over night.

Take out the 250 watt and install a lower wattage, say 150 watt. This will condition them, using a step down approach for two weeks.