outside temps at 6 weeks (question)

[gale65]

If it is, say, about 65 or above, would you feel comfortable leaving a coop window open in your coop (covered in 1/2" hardware cloth and in an enclosed run) if your chicks are 6 weeks old? I want them to have plenty of ventilation at night but don't want them to get too cold.

 

[JodyJo]

how feathered out are they? I would say its ok, you can leave it open and go check on them and see how they are acting...go with the way they behave!

 

[ninabeast]

At 6 weeks, my avian expert told me mine were okay to 50 degrees. For what it's worth...

 

[teach1rusl]

Yes, I would.

Even the '5 degree decrease per week until feathered out' guideline puts it at 70, and at six weeks, yours should be pretty well feathered. They will do fine.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I feel comfortable taking away all supplemental heat and kicking them out of the brooder at about 5 weeks. I've done it at 4 weeks when the weather was warmer. This year, I stopped all supplemental heat at about 3 weeks, day and night, but left them in the draft free brooder for another week. That brooder was in the coop and the window was open and the nighttime lows were around 70 degrees. These were just over 3 weeks old and all are doing well. It varies on the weather, how fast they are feathering out, and how many there are. If there are several, they can keep each other warm at night.

I've never had one that was not sufficiently feathered out at 5 weeks.

I'll mention on mine that, if they were 3 weeks old, they had completed 3 weeks and were into the 4th week according to the recommendations, so were good for 75 to 80 anyway.

1st week ( between 0 to 1 week old) - 90 to 95
2nd week (between 1 to 2 weeks old) - 85 to 90
3rd week (between 2 to 3 weeks old) - 80 to 85
4th week (between 3 to 4 weeks old) - 75 to 80
5th week (between 4 to 5 weeks old) - 70 to 75
6th week (between 5 to 6 weeks old) - 65 to 70
7th week (between 6 to 7 weeks old) - 60 to 65

If yours are 6 weeks old, they are into their 7th week, which makes them good for 60 to 65 if you go by the chart, but I really think you throw the chart away after they are 5 weeks old. But anyway this chart I put together should give you enough confidence to go for it. They should be fine.

 

[Judy]

Mine threw away Ridgerunner's chart at 3 weeks with lows 60-65. They were sleeping several feet away from the heat lamp, as far as they could get. It's a good chart in that it goes by recommendations, even a tad on the low side (which I consider a good thing) but if your chicks tell you it's too warm.... I suspect we do more harm with too much warmth than with not enough.

Years ago, I raised chicks in our winter under one 100W bulb in a shed, because that's what everyone else around here did. As I recall, they made it as long as it stayed above freezing out. Not ideal, just for comparison.

 

[gale65]

thanks everyone. They huddle together no matter what the weather so it wasn't easy to tell by that behavior. They didn't seem to be peeping much last night (I left the window open until pretty late). I think I'll leave it open tonight and see how they get along. They're fully feathered.