Today I moved my girls

[Balloonjuice]

24 chicks (5 1/2 weeks old) from brooder to hen house (i.e. coop). Here are some pix.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/g/a/6680446/moving-day

 

[Aegault]

Loved the pics!

I'm in South Texas and we've just moved our tiny flock of 5 to their coop too. They are right at 4wks old.

We have moved a light in there for them, but I want them to start getting used to sleeping in the dark- what type of heat source do you use? It's getting down between 50-60 here most nights and upper 70s in the day (although today was 94!).

 

[Balloonjuice]

My girls are fully feathered at this point, including even hackles. If we start to get some lower temps again (could happen -- we've had a strange winter), I'll use an infrared heat lamp. I've run electricity to the coop, so it will be no problem to hang some reflector lamps in there.

As far as night / day cycle, I was already trying to get them used to that while still in the brooder. They've been sleeping in the dark pretty much every night for about a week or 10 days. My brooders are in a room by themselves with no windows. So I leave the lights on during the day and turn them off at night. The lone exception is a thermostatically controlled brooder light.

At the same time I had electricity run to the brooder, I also installed lighting. But my thinking on the lighting is that come fall when the egg laying would normally slack off, I'll add some artificial lighting in the coop to see if that encourages a longer laying "season."

We're in Styx, TX (Kaufman County). Some people say north Texas, others say east Texas. As long as you say Texas.

 

[brood mother]

I'm in the same boat. I have three that are right at 5 weeks that are fully feathered. My coop is ready except the window. My husband hasn't put it in yet. Out temps have been weird here in central mississippi, but for the next week daytime highs are supposed to be in upper 70s and lows vary from low 60s to upper 40s. I don't have a light in it but could run an extension cord out and put a couple in there.

Any suggestions/opinions???

 

[bboyd1]

I have 13 chicks, that will be separated from my grown hens, and Im wondering when I can move them outside? Currently they are *technically* outside, in my shop, there is no heat there, but its fully insulated and they have a heat lamp. I want to move them to their regular pen and house. They are right at 6 weeks old, and basically feathered out, but nights here still get down in the upper 30's currently. They will NOT have any access to a heat lamp in their regular run. Should I move them? Will their combined body heat be enough in their hen house? Theirs is actually not big enough for regular hens, its just what I use for chicks, built smaller like a cubby and full of hay and pine shavings. kinda like a huge 3'x2' nest up off the ground with a hole for an entrance and a hinge lid so I can check on them if they aren't coming out. I'd still have to make sure they go inside it at night, and I can close the door to lock them in and keep snakes and such out. Whatcha think? Still too cold to be away from a heat light? Or put them out, I've heard it makes them hardier as adults

 

[Balloonjuice]

I'm attempting to upload a video of my girls in their new digs. Apparently I have to upload to Youtube or Vimeo first, then get it from there. Am I understanding the process correctly?

Youtube informs me that my video must be "processed." I'm not sure exactly what that means, but it is happening now I think. It appears to be done. Well...that was nearly painless!

I've been told that while the camera work is decent and the direction is adequate, the dialog is rather "cheep."

 

[Balloonjuice]

Brood Mother,

Not that I have any more experience than you do, but I would run an extension cord out there when the forecast is for lows in the 30s (maybe even the 40s). My gals were all huddled up together this morning. I'm not sure if it was because they were chilly or simply not used to their new surroundings. My ventilation windows are covered with 1/2" hardware cloth with a shutter that I can close or open. The shutter really needs to be replaced, so I guess that will be my next project.

See my thread in coops called "This Was Already Here" for the work I'm doing on my rather old coop that I found on my property.

Balloonjuice
(Richard Bacon)

 

[brood mother]

Balloon juice,

We did run a cord out there and we turned on the heat lamp. It's supposed to be in the low 40s tonight. I just came in from checking on them, lol, and they were laying together in the fluffy pine shavings. Not directly under where the light was but in that area, so they should be ok. It's a very large coop that we plan on outing all the hens in eventually, so made sure we hung the heat lamp bout 3 feet from floor. I am one nervous momma, lol!

 

[Aegault]

Loved the video! That's a lot of chicks! We are semi-urban San Antonio, just 2m outside of loop 410 near the airport so the city limits us between 3-5 birds. Enough for my family and gifts of eggs for certain.

My routine with the chicks is this: wake up wish, go open the coop door and the girls come right down into the run. They hang out in the run till near 8-ish, when I put them up in the coop and close the hatch, locking them in for the night (with food/water available in the coop as well).

The chicks play on the ladder to the coop, but right now I've not seen one go up inside it on their own.

I moved the birds back into the coop from the run last night at about 8pm as it was getting dark. It was cooler already, probably close to 70.

Peeked in the window about 10m later and my Buff was cuddled up next to the lamp- guess she was chilly. Checked later and one of my plymouths was sitting there. At about 10 when I checked a final time, the Buff was on the high perch out of direct light and the other four were sleeping together on the pine shavings in the light, but not too close.

I think as it continues to get warmer, we're going to start reducing the size of the bulb till we can remove it and it's dark.

This is my Buff Orpington, Marsala. She is so friendly and runs right up to greet us. None of them are super excited about being held/cuddled, but they don't do much protesting except for peeping loudly for bit before settling down.

They are all fully feathered except around the neck/head where you can still see the fluff.

 

[Balloonjuice]

Seems like the hackles (neck feathers) are last to come in on my red stars as well. I can see the beginnings of a comb on Marsala. I'm wondering if she's named after the wine, the color of the dish, or your intended use for her. Just kidding.

I went out to check on my girls before sunup this morning to see how they handled the cold (into the 40s last night) and the dark. They were huddled very close to the human entrance (I call it a man-door, but my daughter in law and grand daughter use it as well) and doing quite well. As you probably know, when it is dark they are deep sleepers.

Nice pic of Marsala. My caption: "get that camera out of my face or you'll see what I can do!"