Newbie question

[newtofarmlife]

We have chicks that are now about 7-8 weeks old and we built the house and yard for them but I just was wondering at night do we shut them in their house or leave the door open for them to come and go as they please??Sorry one more question...Do we ALWAYS leave the heat light on?

 

[kidd42]

I always lock mine in at night. They are 8 weeks old, have been in the coop for 3 weeks. When it starts to get dark they just go in and go to bed, then I go out and shut everthing up till morning.

 

[briteday]

I close the pop door on my coop to keep predators out. If a skunk or racoon got into the run that would be bad enough. But leaving chickens roosting in the dark where they can't see...with racoons as midnight visitors = easy pickin's.

As far as the heat lamp...depends on the night time temps and how the chicks have been doing outside so far. At 8 weeks I would expect that they could be fine roosting together for warmth, down to maybe 50 degrees...if you have been exposing them to the outside. If you are just putting them in the coop for the first time and they have not been outside at all yet...then I'd leave the heat lamp on to keep it around 60 degrees in the coop.

Just be careful of heat and bedding mixtures. It can be a recipe for disaster if that heat lamp falls into the bedding during the night.