I think these have been answered pretty well already but I’ll give my opinion. I don’t raise chicks in the house, my 3’ x 6’ brooder is in the coop to start with, so some of these questions don’t really apply to the way I do things.
- What temperature is the best for small and growing chicks?
There is no perfect temperature. If you have a roomful of people some will be too warm, some will be too cold, and some will be just right. Chicks are just as different. To me, the best set-up is to have one area warm enough in the coolest temperatures and an area cool enough in the warmest temperatures. Inside a house with climate controlled conditions this isn’t too challenging but outside where you can get huge temperature swings day to day let alone overnight, you need a larger brooder. It doesn’t matter if one area is too warm as long as they have an area cool enough. It doesn’t matter if there is ice in the far end of the brooder in winter as long as one area is warm enough. I find that straight out of the incubator or straight from the post office the chicks are really good about self-regulating their own temperatures as long as they have a choice. That takes all the stress and worry out of it for me.
- When is cold too cold?
Also, when is it too hot? That’s another important part of this. As others have said, your chicks will tell you. There are threads on here where people have had broody hens raise chicks with ambient temperatures often below freezing, sometimes well below freezing. I’ve had hens hatch and raise chicks in some pretty strong heat waves, daily highs well above 100 degrees F, sometimes above 110. The hens can manage. The more extreme the temperatures on both ends the more the risk so try6 to not get ridiculous. There are no magic numbers where everything is great at one temperature but if it gets one degree warmer or cooler disaster looms. It is a gradual change to the risk with a change in temperature.
- At what age can they start going outside for short periods and
Observing my broody hens they pretty well keep chicks covered the first day or two, depending on how warm or cold the temperature is. But after a couple of days the chicks start spending more and more time out from under the hen, scratching, eating, and running around. So I consider the first day or two as when they probably need more warmth. If you get them through the post office they have pretty much passed this more critical time by the time you get them.
When I put mine in the brooder straight from the incubator they normally spend a day or two in a warm spot. But as long as it is not very cold in the rest of the brooder, it usually doesn’t take them many days before they are exploring and playing in the rest of the brooder. Again I don’t think there is a magic number for when you can take them outside in any conditions, but I think the age they can go outside with you watching them is measured in a very few days, not weeks.
- At what age can they move outside full-time?
It purely depends on your conditions. If you can provide an area outside that is warm enough in the coolest conditions and cool enough in the warmest conditions, the can immediately go outside. You also have to consider how the coop is made, how well does it provide protection from weather and predators.
If you have adult chickens already, they need protection from the adults. Integration is another huge topic. Again there is no magic age for this, it depends on your conditions. Since mine are raised with the flock in my outside brooder, I can integrate pretty young. I also have a lot of space, I consider space a key factor.
- When do you turn the heat lamp off?
Not everyone uses a heat lamp. I do but others use many different types of heat sources. As long as you can safely provide an area warm enough it doesn’t matter what kind of heat source you use. We all have our personal preferences and experiences, but different methods have been used for a long, long time. The ancient Egyptians used to incubate and brood chicks using heat piped in from a fire. This was thousands of years before electricity was used. People like to think this is new and marvelous. It’s not.
A few years back in a heat wave I turned the daytime heat off at 2 days and the overnight heat off at 5 days. The chicks were telling me that they did not need it or appreciate it. During the winter when ice is still forming on the far end of my brooder I usually leave the heat on, day and night, until five weeks. I’ve moved chicks from my brooder to my unheated grow-out coop at five weeks with the overnight lows in the mid-20’s F. My grow-out coop has good ventilation up high but also really good draft protection down low where they are. My chicks are acclimated to the cold because they have been playing in the far ends of my brooder when it was cold there. I also generally have 15 to 25 chicks at a time so they can help keep each other warm if they need to, though I really doubt they need to that much. Once they feather out they are very well insulated against cold. If yours are living in tropical conditions, five weeks may be too young for them in temperatures below freezing.
That’s basically it for me. I don’t believe in any magic numbers for any of this. It’s going to depend on your unique conditions. Just watch your chicks, they will tell you if they are doing OK or not.
) my chicks are outside from pretty much as soon as I get them. They're brooded in a large dog crate with a heat lamp till they're large enough to go in the coop and old enough to not need a heat lamp.
