Thinking about moving Chicks outside next wednesday.

[abundantwife]

I moved my five week old chicks out to a section of the coop a couple of days ago. The temps in NH have been pretty low at night-- mid 30s, but they have been fine. I have a 250 watt heat emitter( no light- just heat) hanging on their side of the coop and the temp is about 55 on the floor, but 65 on the roost. At night all the chicks have made it to the roost to sleep. It always amazes me how fast they learn to roost!

 

[Lil_Miss_Farmer_Chick]

We have a roost in ours, but most of them sleep on the floor in a pile under the light. I myself would keep it shining towards the floor and if they are hot, they can move away. I think you will notice that the more they feather out, the more time they will spend away from under the light.

 

[Spitman]

Mine never started using till 5,6 weeks, but that depends on the hight of the pirchs , I use little baby perches like a mini ladder , and most the chicks start out playing on them but sleeping in a huddle then slowly move to sleeping on the perches .

 

[Hegatha]

Thanks everyone my last question is what age do you take the heat lamp away?

 

[Lil_Miss_Farmer_Chick]

Usually when they are fully feathered. Mine are 4 weeks, some are already feathered out and others are not quite there yet, I myself would probably take it away at 5 - 6 weeks. It also depends on the weather. Right now we are not going below freezing in the coop at night so I think they will be fine without it, but if I knew we were going to go below freezing inside the coop I would wait.