Predicting 28F tonight...

[SkyWarrior]

I closed the barn and made sure the brooder light was close to the chicks.

Hope they'll be okay.

 

[Arcnadius]

Yikes! 28F for you can only mean that it should hit here in about 2-3 days. Guess I better get my coop finished in a hurry!

 

[SkyWarrior]

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Yeah, we have frost warnings.

 

[Arcnadius]

Maybe it's moving east to west because we had our first hard frost last week. Now this week we've been basking in the 80's. Weird.

I'll try to get our heat wave pushed toward you to warm up those chickens!

 

[Happy Chooks]

They'll be fine.

Last year I moved some almost 6 week old chicks outside into a small uninsulated coop with a heat lamp. The next night, we got a boatload of snow. They were all fine and cozy in the coop. They are tougher than you think.

ETA: the picture. Yup, the chicks were all nice and cozy in here.

 

[ChickieBooBoo]

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we have been very warm here aswell, like 25-30 degrees C this weekend. I think thats over now though

 

[SkyWarrior]

Update on the chicks:

The two little week-old chicks did fine as did the 4 week old chicks. The week-old chicks had the brooder lamp and the 4 week chicks were in an enclosed kennel with some heat from the lamp. The weenies were the Buff Orpingtons who are three and a half months old. They huddled together in the coop with ruffled feathers and made fast er-er-er noises until I picked them up and warmed up their legs. (Weenies!

) The EEs they were with were fine. Granted, the EEs are older by about 3 months, but still. If they keep being weenies, I'm going to have to put on the mat heater.

 

[gryeyes]

You're gonna laugh, but I bought a heater thingie. One of these: http://sweeterheater.com/bizweb.asp

I thought, since I'm into this hatching obsession, I could use it for an intermediary brooder as I transition the chicks from inside Baby Chick brooder, but before they're ready to go into a coop all feathered out.

After all, we will get a few freezing night and mornings, and maybe 10 days total of temps below freezing in the winter.

What does everybody think of these? Any comments? And yes, you may snark at me for being over-protective or making weenies out of my young chickens. But hey, I haven't installed it anywhere yet! Just planning ahead.... so comments and suggestions ARE welcome!)

I bought the model which can be mounted on the side or hung overhead above chicks.

 

[SkyWarrior]

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It gets below 32F in Sacramento?

I have a heat mat that I used during the spring with my first batch of chicks. Given how cold it was, I'm glad I did. I haven't used it yet for the chickens this fall, but in December, I suspect I will.

Temps around -20F get a bit harsh. I do have an extra brooder lamp I'll probably run on those days to ensure I have unfrozen birds.

 

[Arcnadius]

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