I have 6 chicks in the henhouse - about 9 weeks old. Last weekend, I introduced nine 1-week old babies - all was fine - a little early for outside, I know, but the weather was great! Watched them for several days - everyone got along real well - in fact, the older girls were taking the babies under their wings - literally!
Problem: we had a cold front move in - over 70 during the day, but mid-60s at night. The first couple of nights, the older ones circled the tents and helped warm the babies - along with a "heat lamp" - not a heat bulb, just a regular floodlight. Then the rains came in at night - with a vengeance.
During the second night of rain, I woke up about 2:30am, and noticed the heat lamp had gone out. I went out in the rain - heavy drizzle - and checked it - there had been too much rain blowing onto the bulb, and it burned out. I changed the buld, adjusted it more away from the blowing-in rain, and then noticed that one of my Buckeye babies was standing in front of the nest boxes cabinet, all by herself and shivering. I brought her into the house, warmed her on my chest for a couple of hours, and put her in a box - which I should have done in the first place, I now realize, until they were older.
The next morning, I went out to check on everyone, and found the other two Buckeyes lying in the straw dead - everyone else was OK. I gathered up the remaining babies - leaving just the older girls out there - and they are now boxed and in the utility room - have been for several days now.
The "rescued" baby appears to have recuperated, and she's now in the big box with the other babies. They're all coming up on 3 weeks old. The weather is plenty warm during the day for the babies. The 10-day forecast shows mid to upper 80s during the day, but mid to upper 60s at night, with potential thunderstorms a couple of the days. I sure don't want to lose any more due to my stupidity!
I was thinking about maybe putting the babies out in the henhouse during the day, and bringing them in at night, in order to ease the reintroduction to the big kids. But I'm also thinking that might be way too much stress on them, moving them back and forth every day. I'm concerned that keeping them inside for a couple of weeks - which would put them over a month old - might make reintroducing them to the "flock" harder to do.
Any suggestions?
Thanks...have a great day, and God bless!
Problem: we had a cold front move in - over 70 during the day, but mid-60s at night. The first couple of nights, the older ones circled the tents and helped warm the babies - along with a "heat lamp" - not a heat bulb, just a regular floodlight. Then the rains came in at night - with a vengeance.
During the second night of rain, I woke up about 2:30am, and noticed the heat lamp had gone out. I went out in the rain - heavy drizzle - and checked it - there had been too much rain blowing onto the bulb, and it burned out. I changed the buld, adjusted it more away from the blowing-in rain, and then noticed that one of my Buckeye babies was standing in front of the nest boxes cabinet, all by herself and shivering. I brought her into the house, warmed her on my chest for a couple of hours, and put her in a box - which I should have done in the first place, I now realize, until they were older.
The next morning, I went out to check on everyone, and found the other two Buckeyes lying in the straw dead - everyone else was OK. I gathered up the remaining babies - leaving just the older girls out there - and they are now boxed and in the utility room - have been for several days now.
The "rescued" baby appears to have recuperated, and she's now in the big box with the other babies. They're all coming up on 3 weeks old. The weather is plenty warm during the day for the babies. The 10-day forecast shows mid to upper 80s during the day, but mid to upper 60s at night, with potential thunderstorms a couple of the days. I sure don't want to lose any more due to my stupidity!
I was thinking about maybe putting the babies out in the henhouse during the day, and bringing them in at night, in order to ease the reintroduction to the big kids. But I'm also thinking that might be way too much stress on them, moving them back and forth every day. I'm concerned that keeping them inside for a couple of weeks - which would put them over a month old - might make reintroducing them to the "flock" harder to do.
Any suggestions?
Thanks...have a great day, and God bless!
