Too cold for my chicks???

[Tylt33]

I put my chicks out in the coop for the first time tonight. They are almost four weeks old and have a large amount of feathering. I'm just worried that it might be too cold for them, it's 74 degrees right now and tonight's low is 62... what do you think?

My other question is, they're all huddled in the run, they don't seem to know how to use the ladder to get up to the nest boxes... how do I train them, or will they figure it out?

Thanks in advance!

 

[pkw]

They will probably be okay.

 

[Kittymomma]

They'll be fine as long as they're not in a drafty spot. I had mine (coyote got their mom) back outside at 4 weeks old and it was about 10 degrees cooler then what you have. They did great.

You'll have to put them in the coop, probably for a few nights anyhow. You can put some treats on the ladder to try to teach them that it's not a big scary thing and hopefully they'll get the idea. There might be better ways to train them but the pop door on my coop is at ground level so I've never dealt with that problem.

 

[Tylt33]

I just went and moved them up to the nest boxes/coop portion. Sleeping chickens are soooo easy to move! And pretty adorable to boot.

 

[pgpoultry]

If there are only two or three they may be vulnerable, but in a bunch of 6,7 or more they keep very warm as they all snuggle down together,

Sandie

 

[Tylt33]

Quote:
There are nine... they were in a pile when I found them. Cute!