They are out of the brooder!

[maclady]

My babies have flown the brooder. They are now in their coop overnight for the first time. Raised a ruckus when it started getting dark then settled down. They knew about darkness cause I have let them deal with that in the garage brooder. It is supposed to be warm tonight with rain early tomorrow morning but still stay nice. I'm hoping they are ok. My husband thinks I'm nuts for worrying about them so much. I've got their coop locked down like it was a bank vault. I have a feeling I'm not getting much sleep tonight. Anybody else worry when they put their babies out for the first full night? or am I just nuts?

 

[theoldchick]

Oh yeah. After going through all that hard work getting chicks to hatch out I'd lose sleep too.

 

[catchthewind]

If you're nuts I'm even more so. I'm worried about putting our chicks out and they haven't even gone out yet! Out of curiosity, do you have a heat lamp out for them? How cold does it get in your garage compared to the coop? How old are they?

 

[maclady]

My chicks are 7 weeks but all feathered. It was 82 here today and low is going to be 64. My garage stayed around 65-70 most of the time & I started not using the heat lamp for them in there. I ran a heater for it when it was into the low 30s but that was awhile ago. I have had the chicks going outside on nice days for quite awhile. They raised a ruckus you wouldn't believe when I had to put them back into the brooder at night. I even had them outside just in the coop on several days when it was only 50 and they loved it. I do not have a heat lamp in the coop-no electricity in it. There is a ton of aspen bedding in there and when I checked a few minutes ago they were cuddled down together in a corner. It is still in the mid 70s here now so there is no way they are cold. It is supposed to rain tonight but I know there are no leaks cause I checked it out good inside after the last really good thunderstorm. Just being a paranoid first time chicken mom I think. I have a felling I will still check on them yet tonight. I already know where the umbrella and flashlight are. My hubby just rolled his eyes and said "they're chickens-they'll be fine". I wish you luck with yours when you move them out.