Transitional move from house to garage

[nikif]

We bought bantam chicks from TSC about 4-1/2 weeks ago. Two looked to be a tad bigger/older and the others were just delivered to the store and tiny. We have four total. They’ve been inside our house (in a large tote) and using the Brinsea EcoGlow for warmth. We are ready to get them out of the house (little stinky). I think they’re definitely ready for more space.

Trying to figure out what to put them in, in the garage. We have an XL wire dog kennel, if that’s ok. It’s the easiest and I think we can put the little heater in it easily enough for the cold nights we are still having. We could also pull the small coop into the garage instead (but my husband doesn’t want to do that unless necessary) but not sure if there’s room in it to rig their heater if it’s needed along with food/water. Not sure. It’s still getting cold here at night (still waiting for spring in central Ohio instead of breaking ice still) so we didn’t want to move them outside to their own coop just yet.

What do you think? I need help from the more experienced people for transitioning these four little bantams safely out of the house. The temps look to be going up (with a below freezing temp still expected). Thanks!

 

[briarandwillow]

You'll want to slowly wean them off the heat so they can learn how to stay warm together. Your temps are colder than mine, so your mileage may vary, but what I did was decrease the heat til it was basically room temp under the heater. You'll probably accomplish this by raising your heater a little higher so they can just barely touch it. Monitor them to make sure theyre not freezing, if they stay balled up all day they're too cold. If they roam around only ducking back in under the heater they're fine.

Once you've gotten them used to the ambient temps in the garage, you should be able to start taking them for day trips out to the coop.

They'll adjust by feathering in faster.

 

[rosemarythyme]

The dog crate should be fine, though you need to block off the openings especially on the lower section to prevent chicks from slipping out or getting their heads stuck. Some cardboard snugly attached to the wire should do the trick.

Once they move to the garage you can start working on weaning them off heat (as noted above) in preparation for moving them outside.