What age winter hardy?

[5linedskink]

Want to get new chicks but wondering how long till they are safe to be left out in the cold? Figure we would get chicks in couple of weeks and wonder if they will be old enough by October to withstand cold and by November to withstand very cold. Thanks.

 

[MMPoultryFarms]

There are breeds that are very cold harty. http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chooks.html

 

[jaimslee4u]

I got my first bunch at the end of July. I was worried about that too! I think I had the coop done mid to late September. They were fine. I started giving them outings during the day so they got used to the air. No issues with the cold at all.

There are more cold hardy breeds, I have Orpington's and Barred Rocks. I think My Pet Chicken has a breed finder that will help with finding more cold hardy breeds.

 

[Chick_In_The_Burbs]

I ended up getting EE's. They're very cold hardy, sweet natured and easy to tell apart (the furture colored eggs don't hurt either!). Two others I remember debating were Austrolorps and Barred Rocks. But there are about nine 'cold hardy, especially docile, very good egg laying' breeds in that chick finder on MPC.

And if you're really worried or just want to be careful, I found a site that sells coop heaters.

http://www.shopthecoop.com

I got their coop mat. I have a relativly small coop with three birds, so I think I'll only need a little help keeping them warm in the really bad weather. They also have some that screw onto the wall of the coop.

 

[Chick_In_The_Burbs]

Oh, and they can maintain their own body heat at about 9 weeks. So at that point with a good coop they should be ok. I'd probably wait for 10 wks just to be safe though.

http://www.freewebs.com/professorchicken/timelineofachicken.htm