What could have happened?

[coffeelady3]

Sorry about your rooster. From what I've read, sudden temperature changes can have negative affects on chickens. Heating the coop has pros and cons. Sure they stay warm, but if something happens to the heat and there's a sudden drop in temperature they won't be acclimated to the cold and they can get sick. Heating the coop to 60-65 seems a little high to me, since birds can easily weather themselves down to freezing temps. If you can keep it to around 40 or so, they should be fine. I say turn down the heat a bit, and unless the temp gets REALLY down there, I wouldn't use it at all. It sounds like you're in a pretty temperate area. ( Being in Washington, I don't have that problem!)

 

[MissJames]

Quote:
I thought they had to have a heat source until they were fully feathered. Geez,this is harder than I expected!
I will NEVER get chicks in the fall again....well,hopefully.

 

[coffeelady3]

Quote:
At 11 weeks old they should be fully feathered. With heat, the general rule is to start out at 95 degrees and lower the temp 5 degrees per week until they are fully feathered. Just going by that, they could be down to 50 degrees or so, which may or may not require heat depending on where you live. You should put a thermometer in the coop to see how cold it gets inside. With the body heat of the chickens, it's generally warmer in there than it is outside. If they're outside now, you don't want too much of a difference in temperature going on.

I never did ask....how cold is it getting outside?

 

[cmom]

Sorry about your loss.

It's amazing how quickly we bond with our birds. What is your climate where you live? I live in Florida and we do get some freezing weather. From time of hatch for the first week I keep my brooder around 95 degrees and reduce the temperature by 5 degrees each week, so at 8 weeks they should be able to stand around 55 degrees. When the weather is forecasted to get around freezing, I put 175 watt or 250 watt Red heat lamps on at night in my coops. They are for the most part out in the yard daily from around 7:30 am to 6 pm. Around 6 pm I go out and check everyone and shut them in their coops. I didn't use to shut my pop doors until a dog or critter with a dog like prints, killed one of my older hens.