Shutting off the heat lamp

[kara_leigh]

My chicks are only a week and a half old, and they are already living without a light. I had a couple die, and a couple people here suggested that they were probably too warm and to get rid of the light. They are in my spare bedroom, which is a big warmer than the rest of the house, but is around 80 degrees or so (maybe a bit warmer). We just shut the a/c vents to the room to keep it warmer. They did holler up a storm when I first turned off the light, but they were fine. They are thriving now. They don't huddle together or anything indicating that they are too cold.

At 8 weeks old, I would just put them outside. My first chickens started free ranging and sleeping in an outdoor coop at 6 weeks. My next batch started free ranging at 6 weeks but slept in a brooder at night until 10 weeks, simply b/c we hadn't finished our big coop yet.

 

[bobbieschicks]

We did several daytime outings in an exercise pen when the weather was in the 90s. I made the pen with chicken wire & tomato cages for daytime supervised playing. Then at 3.5 weeks old I moved them to their permanent coop & run. They sleep on the floor of the coop in a huddle in the corner and are fine. There was a full moon that night so maybe that helped them with lighting. I was more nervous about it then they were. The next day they had a blast running around their run and finding all the bugs & stuff. Any trauma from not having a red glow overhead was quickly forgotten. It's been getting cooler & they are now 6 weeks old tomorrow - still fine outside without a lamp & still huddling together at night in a cute little chicken ball.

 

[Gerry2011]

That's what I was wondering about my chicks who are 5+ weeks old and have been moved to their coop. So it's going to be lights off, chickies.

They've been in the coop for a week now and will NOT go outside. I threw them out a couple of times and they were fine, but they don't go back in either! Well, once they did, but not since. It is hot in the coop during the day and they sit around panting (I have a fan on them). Guess they need a chicken psychiatrist to get them over this outdoors anxiety attacks they're having

 

[bobbieschicks]

At first I tried to "manage" their ins and outs & whether they were on the roost of the coop - now I just make sure they're not left outside after dark (so far they've gone in every night about 8pm and the auto door closes at 8:15pm). I do open the windows during the day to air their coop out and keep it cool - they hang out underneath it in the shade and go in sometimes to eat & drink. There's water & food inside, water outside & treats outside.