Putting my chicks outside at 2 months old

[Jay2017hesser]

I have a 3 month old brabanter Cockrell the and12 , 2 month old Isa Browns that I put out in a small Coop about 6 ft by 5 ft it's pretty tight so it should be fairly warm I put the heat lamp out there but not really sure if I need it open to feedback I've never put chicks out this late in the year

 

[azygous]

It would help to know what your climate is like. How cold is it going to be at night? Have the chicks been under the heat lamp all this time? Prior to going outdoors to live in a coop, it helps to wean them off heat in the weeks prior to that. If it's especially cold, you want to acclimatize them gradually to the cold.

Beware of a heat lamp in an unventilated coop. Heat causes condensation in cold air and that condensation can then form on exposed tissue on your chicks, causing frostbite.

 

[Goose girl1]

I live in a colder climate and my new additions are outside at 7 weeks but they get but in our insulated garage at night.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Knowing your climate and what extreme temperatures you may be facing would be good information to have, but unless you live where the temperatures are ridiculously cold, well below zero Fahrenheit, get rid of that heat lamp and open that coop up.

I’ve had 5-1/2 week old chicks in an unheated coop when the overnight lows were in the mid 20’s Fahrenheit. Those chicks had been raised in a large brooder in my coop. I kept one end warm but the other end might have ice in it some mornings. Mine were used to playing in cold temperatures, I think that acclimating helped. The coop they were in had great breeze protection down low where they were, a wind could not hit them directly. And the top was pretty much wide open. The top was wire but there was a raised roof over that to keep rain out. Others on here have said they’ve had younger chickens out in colder weather but I’m kind of cautious.

There are two ways cold can cause problems with your chickens. By cold I mean freezing or below. They can handle temperatures that would be uncomfortable or dangerous to you if you were not dressed for it. With their down coats they are dressed for it.

One problem is if a cold wind hits them. Like the wild birds that overwinter where you live (assuming you live where wild birds over-winter, most of us do) the chickens keep themselves warm by trapping tiny pockets of air in their down and feathers. Those pockets of air insulate them, just like a down coat insulates you. If a breeze strong enough to ruffle their feathers and let those air pockets out, they lose that insulating effect. So your coop needs to let them get out of a direct wind. But they need some air movement to get rid of the moisture.

That’s the other issue, moisture. If the air temperature is below freezing they can get frostbite. If the air is fairly dry they can handle temperatures well below zero Fahrenheit and not get frostbite. If the air is really humid just a few degrees below freezing can cause frostbite. The moisture can come from their breathing, their poop if it isn’t frozen, a waterer, or maybe something else. The way you control moisture is with good ventilation. Ventilation allows drier air from outside to be exchanged for moist air inside. You won’t get the air inside drier than the air outside but that should be good enough. It’s a lot better than having then in an airtight coop where no moisture can escape.

Another danger with an airtight coop is that ammonia is produced when their breaks down. Ammonia is lighter than air so you need a way up high for that ammonia to escape. The warmer the poop is the more ammonia is going to be produced, that’s just the way the bacteria that causes ammonia work. It doesn’t take much of a hole up high for ammonia to escape but it takes some. I can see light coming in through cracks in your photo so I don’t think ammonia will be an issue for you.

An easy way to provide good breeze protection and good ventilation is to have your ventilation up high so any breezes pass over their heads, even on the roost. There is a method that leaves one end of the coop pretty much open that is used way up in Canada but that is a special build, it’s hard to retrofit a coop that way. Fresh air is not a danger to your chickens, high moisture levels and a direct breeze are. You should not be trying to give your chickens a warm place to stay. You should be giving then a place so they can keep themselves warm.

I don’t know what kind of cold you are likely to experience where you are but by two months I’d think those pullets are plenty old enough to stay outside without any supplemental heat.

 

[chickens really]

Do you have a Run built also?...A pop door ?...As long as no direct wind can blow on them in the Coop they are big enough to run in and out to a secure run and be locked up at night....