Night temperature advice needed

[Ridgerunner]

It's obvious you don't have any older chickens out there. My set-up isn't that different though yours is more attractive. When mine hit 5 weeks old I just open the brooder door and let them out, then shut the brooder door. I have adults in the coop/run too. It's amazing how little you have to baby them if you raise them with the flock like that and they have lots of room.

My brooder in the coop. Since it has a wire floor it is also a broody buster or a place to isolate an injured chicken.

 

[Ruralhideaway]

I think maybe I'll get a low wattage light on a timer for the brooder and yes I am going to make a mama heating pad for the new batch of babies arriving in October. I'd never heard of that until i learned it here so wasn't in time for the current group. Looking forward to using it next time. So these guys are getting evicted from the brooder mid October.

 

[Ruralhideaway]

Ridegerunner that's the same idea yup. Mine only looks nice because no one has trashed it yet. I'm sure it'll be well lived in soon. No adults here, haven't had chickens in about 14 years so I had to build something, used to use a stall in the barn rather casually, they mostly just kicked around but we now have Fishers nearby so that wouldn't do this time. I think I'll add a wire floored box somewhere that seems handy to have.

 

[azygous]

You have such a nice setup! Your chicks are lucky.

No need to baby them at this point as others have pointed out. The need for any light at all is no longer valid. They are all well feathered and cold hardened, and they have become familiar with their surroundings and no longer should fear the dark.

If you wish, you may begin to introduce them to the roosting perch. I do this around age five weeks regardless of whether they've been brooded by me or broody hen. The latest chicks have been sleeping on the perch under their broody's protective wings since five weeks, and they are now going on ten weeks and no longer fit under her wings, but they still try. It took just three nights and they were hopping onto the roost on their own.

When I first place chicks on a perch, I lay a comforting hand lightly on their backs, and I make "shhing" sounds to calm them. Pushing down lightly on the head will get them into a slumber posture, and they will usually stay. It also helps to place chicks very close together on the perch, scrunched up against a wall on one end if there is one.

It's a natural instinct to roost, and they usually catch on and prefer it in just a few nights of showing them.

 

[Ruralhideaway]

They have to be at least 5 weeks so I'll get those roosts up today and start showing them. They are a pretty brave group in general so i bet they embrace being up high quickly. I'm still reviewing predator proofing anyway so a few more nights in the brooder is peace of mind for me. Runs almost finished now too so they'll be out growing up even better soon.
Now to figure out which are cockerels. Hope they all aren't!

 

[azygous]

Figuring out which are cockerels is easy at this age. Compare combs. The color of the pullets is nearly non-existent - very washed out pink. The cockerels will have yellow-orange combs, and by age six weeks, noticeably reddish. The combs on cockerels are also much more pronounced in appearance to the pullets' very subtle, flat profile.

 

[Ruralhideaway]

Thanks azygous, I might have mostly barred rock cockerels and mostly Asian pullets then. Might try to get individual photos later. I'm not good at this.

 

[azygous]

Post those pics and we will tell you what you have!

 

[lazy gardener]

No heat needed at this point. They are fine to go cold turkey... or cold chickie! My chicks wean themselves off heating pad at 4 weeks with night time temps sometimes down to mid 30's.

 

[peckpeckpeck]

I had my girls outside without heat lamp by 5 weeks. Worried when night temps dipped down to low 40's but they were happy as clams!

Be curious to see your BRs
I thought cockerels were whiter than pullets & the coloring on your one pic looks similar to my girl.