Outside transition - double check my thoughts?

[Echelontheory101]

Hi all!

Trying not to make this post too wordy unnecessarily. So I have 3 chicks that are coming up on four and a half weeks old and 8 chicks coming up on 4 weeks old they are spending the day outside in the coop and run the last few days which is huge and wrapped already for the winter I'm not worried about daytime temps out there with them, however I AM a little worried about NIGHT time temps out there with them. Now that they've been exposed to the freedom of the run they are being absolute menaces inside the brooder inside at night lol. So wanting to get them out permanently ahead of my inital schedule. Posted are the temperatures highs and lows for the days and nights for the next week. Most of them are like 80% feathered, my Birchen Marans is like barely half way getting wing feathers but the remainder of her body is still 90% down, everyone else is about halfway done with their backs and just starting their bellies and heads with feathers.

Do these temps seem ok especially the night temps for them to move out permanently?

**I'm not asking about whether they'll *survive* I know they will, I'm asking if they'll be very uncomfortable as that matters to me.**

Thanks so much!

 

[PrettyBirdRocky]

Do you have a place to make a "wool hen"? I used a fleece blanket I cut into strips and hung in a corner for my littles to use, but that was 2 years ago now. Or maybe a cardboard box?


Provided they are out of the wind and drafts and have a place to huddle(box/woolhen), and they are fully feathered or most of the way, they should be okay.

Have a heat plate you could place with them just in case?

(Unless Im completely off. Then again I have week old chicks out in Indiana weather with 2 heat plates(brooder plates) and a che)

 

[Echelontheory101]

Do you have a place to make a "wool hen"? I used a fleece blanket I cut into strips and hung in a corner for my littles to use, but that was 2 years ago now. Or maybe a cardboard box?


Provided they are out of the wind and drafts and have a place to huddle(box/woolhen), and they are fully feathered or most of the way, they should be okay.

Have a heat plate you could place with them just in case?

(Unless Im completely off. Then again I have week old chicks out in Indiana weather with 2 heat plates(brooder plates) and a che)

So there are 2 cozy coop plates mounted to the wall behind their 8 foot long 2x4 roost bar in the coop but my set up is absolutely built for adult sized chickens so the roost bar is not currently close enough for the palm sized chickens to get much benefit from it at night unfortunately and some of the chicks are still so small even with the ladder I have up to the roost bar I am unsure if they'll be able to get up there yet.

I've been looking through the forums at others asking this same question I'm just learning about this huddle box tonight so I think I can definitely make something like that for them because they're probably going to be sleeping down in the cold sand for another couple weeks before they're big enough to get up to the roost bars on their own and get any benefit from the panels.

Unfortunately I can't plug their actual brooder plates in out there (I have two eco glow 600s) because I built the coop with the cords for the Cozy Coop panels into the build so in order to get a plug to outside the coop to an extension cord to run it 300 ft to the garage, I would have to cut a hole in the predator proofing and I'm not really willing to do that because I have a lot of weasels where I live and they can get in a 1/2 inch hole easily.

Its supposed to snow on Tuesday and then get a little more mild so maybe Ill use the next couple days to build the huddle box and try it out overnight after the snow passes. The coop is draft free and dry.

Thanks so much! I know I'm probably being ridiculous and I understand a lot of the really experienced people in these forums say they should have been off heat weeks ago and they would have been fine outside at 2 days old and everything like that and I understand that they'd survive but I would prefer for them to also be happy and comfortable for what it's worth haha

 

[PrettyBirdRocky]

So there are 2 cozy coop plates mounted to the wall behind their 8 foot long 2x4 roost bar in the coop but my set up is absolutely built for adult sized chickens so the roost bar is not currently close enough for the palm sized chickens to get much benefit from it at night unfortunately and some of the chicks are still so small even with the ladder I have up to the roost bar I am unsure if they'll be able to get up there yet.

I've been looking through the forums at others asking this same question I'm just learning about this huddle box tonight so I think I can definitely make something like that for them because they're probably going to be sleeping down in the cold sand for another couple weeks before they're big enough to get up to the roost bars on their own and get any benefit from the panels.

Unfortunately I can't plug their actual brooder plates in out there (I have two eco glow 600s) because I built the coop with the cords for the Cozy Coop panels into the build so in order to get a plug to outside the coop to an extension cord to run it 300 ft to the garage, I would have to cut a hole in the predator proofing and I'm not really willing to do that because I have a lot of weasels where I live and they can get in a 1/2 inch hole easily.

Its supposed to snow on Tuesday and then get a little more mild so maybe Ill use the next couple days to build the huddle box and try it out overnight after the snow passes. The coop is draft free and dry.

Thanks so much! I know I'm probably being ridiculous and I understand a lot of the really experienced people in these forums say they should have been off heat weeks ago and they would have been fine outside at 2 days old and everything like that and I understand that they'd survive but I would prefer for them to also be happy and comfortable for what it's worth haha

Year 3 here, and numerous hatch, and I was like 'after all hatch and fluffy, they go out' lol. But I've had their outside pen ready to go, with couple of winters of practice (watched a broody do it in December)

You can always add pine/hay/straw in bottom of the huddle box as well. Good luck. And yea, when they are our babies we fret more, totally normal

Eta: search woolen hen or huddle box, you can even hang the fleece blanket strips from the box laying on side (ive done that too lol)

 

[Echelontheory101]

Year 3 here, and numerous hatch, and I was like 'after all hatch and fluffy, they go out' lol. But I've had their outside pen ready to go, with couple of winters of practice (watched a broody do it in December)

You can always add pine/hay/straw in bottom of the huddle box as well. Good luck. And yea, when they are our babies we fret more, totally normal

Eta: search woolen hen or huddle box, you can even hang the fleece blanket strips from the box laying on side (ive done that too lol)

Yeah next year I am 100% brooding outside and plan to build a cord pass through into one of the walls so I can get a heat plate out there with them and to have a place to run cords just in case I ever need a bigger fan or something plugged in there in the summer too haha

Will definitly be looking into the huddle box! Thanks again!