Removing light?

[welasharon]

I have four baby silkies (around 8 weeks old-ish) that have been in my house for a few weeks. I put them out in my open air pen in a separate enclosure with the heat lamp that they had inside. The ambient temp last night was 45. The light kept it at 55 or so. They seemed to do fine. This week we will have a couple more warm nights (getting up to 50's) and then Thurs back to just above freezing. I read where I should be dropping the temps 5 degrees per week till even with the ambient. What do you do about such widely ranging temps?

Part two: How do you go about removing the light at night? I unplugged it tonight while adjusting the cord and they went nuts. Now I realize I should have used a heat emitter instead...but I didn't so now I need to know how to adjust them.
sharon

 

[acid_chipmunk]

My baby Silkies are 6 weeks old and fully feathered, so yours should definitely be at 8 weeks. I have take my Silkies heat light totally away from them. Sure they screamed at first, but they calmed down and are fine without it now.

Make sure they are in a draft free area, with lots of bedding to snuggle in and they will be fine at night in their little Silkie pile.

 

[gritsar]

Being silkies, you may want to wait until after this next cold snap before you take their light away completely OR switch to a lower wattage. I'm just telling you what the "experts" I have read had to say.
I have two silkies and I have never treated them any different from any of my other chickens. They've dealt with temps. in the teens so far this winter and have handled it just fine.
Chicks will freak when first subjected to not having a light at night. Still, they can't have light forever; it's just not healthy for them to have it all the time. Turn the light off and watch that nobody piles up in their fright. They'll get used to it getting dark at night. It'll take a few days.

 

[welasharon]

I have them in a separate enclosure I made with screen doors and it has a wooden box inside with hay in it. They are on the sand floor. There is no coop but right now the sides of the pen are covered in plastic with the exception of the front of the run which faces west. I have hay in their area as well. I think I will try a lower wattage (seems less stressful to me!) and work them down that way. The older chickens, six of them, are not so happy with the light on! Maybe making the complete transition with a full moon may help?
Thank you for your help!
sharon