Weaning babies off light

[KyCoop]

So I've been brooding my first chicks in my spare bedroom for almost 5 wks now. Everything had gone well so far. The plan is to move them to the coop this weekend. I'm currently weaning them off the heat light. It's 73 degrees in my house and everyone is almost fully feathered. The first morning I turned the light off, it was still dark out so they freaked out. I got a night light and opened the shades as the sun would be up soon. This seemed to help. But tonight I made a mistake. I had left the bedroom light on until 830 and when I went to tell them good night I turned the light off. Holy cow. They lost their tiny , peeping minds! They were panic screaming. I went back in but I didn't turn the light on. It was not pitch black with the night light.
They normally run from me but I put my hand in and they ran to me for comfort. Which would have been sweet if they had not been terrified. It took about 10 mins to get everyone (7) comforted and laying down, and not screaming.
Am I doing this wrong? I feel like I should leave the shades up and let it go dark naturally and they will get sleepy like the big ladies?

 

[50-45-1]

Dont abruptly turn off or on the light. It's not a natural occurence and scares them.
I use a heat lamp also, but I just reduce the bulb wattage every week or so.
Most of my chicks are out of the house at 2 weeks.
The last bulb is like a 15 watt. No heat, just a comfort light. By then they are roosting and settled in with the others. No panic or terror this way.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I feel like I should leave the shades up and let it go dark naturally and they will get sleepy like the big ladies?

This should work. Or if you have a dimmer switch in the room, you can dim it gradually to mimic the effect.

Abrupt darkness is what causes panic, because it doesn't give them a chance to find a safe spot to settle for the night, which is terrifying for a prey animal.

 

[KyCoop]

I thought I was doing a good thing letting them have more evening play time with the light on. Guess they are going to bed early now.

 

[KyCoop]

Tonight was so much better. The shades are up in the room and it was getting dark. They started to panic a little bit so I went in, no lights and talked to them. They stopped screaming and peep peeped into a puppy pile and went to sleep.
We have decided when we put them in the coop we will get another warmer panel in case of a late cold snap instead of the heat light. I don't want to do light training all over again. Have mercy.