When to put outside 24/7

[Chooks@368]

I have 6 week old post hatch black sex link hens. I live in south central PA and the weather is not getting as warm as it should be. What nighttime temp can my girls stand in their coop? It's barely getting past 45 degrees at night.

 

[jopheso]

Are they fully feathered with their adult feathers? Once that happens they will be fine.

 

[Ducksandchickens]

Once they don’t have any “fluff” on them and are fully feathered then let them out. Maybe set them out for a bit (make sure you watch them) and see how they do. Don’t let them out to long though. They need shelter when they are young

 

[Chooks@368]

They have all but their vent feathers. . they are still fluff. . .but I'm afraid if they're inside this container much longer they'll be ripping each others adult feathers out. One of them is alot more agressive than the others--it's the one I have to chase when I put them outside for a bit and have to bring them in. Her name is nugget--because she was the smallest--but now I think she should have been called Rogue!

 

[Chooks@368]

Once they don’t have any “fluff” on them and are fully feathered then let them out. Maybe set them out for a bit (make sure you watch them) and see how they do. Don’t let them out to long though. They need shelter when they are young

 

[Chooks@368]

they just have fluff around their vents--and that's just a bit--but they are bullying each other and I'm afraid they'll be adult feathers yanked out. I was going to put them out and then shut the coop door at night for now--until it gets above 50 at night--which MIGHT be next week.

 

[Ducksandchickens]

Don’t leave them outside in the night yet, do you have a playpen or something else you can put them in that lets them touch grass?

 

[Ducksandchickens]

I’d you do then let them in there for like 30-45 minutes. Put food and water in the playpen and either sit out with them or check on them once in a while. That way they can get used to grass and being outside but also being safe

 

[Blooie]

My 5.5 week old chicks were evicted on an April 1 morning a few years ago. Got down to 18 degrees that first night, and the second. The third day it snowed. Our last snowfall that year was on June 6th. They were fine. I’d wean yours off the heat for a few days if they are still on it, let the room they are in darken slowly as the sun goes down and lighten as the sun comes back up. They’ll hate your intensely and they’ll let you know about it. But they’ll forgive you. Eventually they have to go out. If not now, when? It won’t get any easier as they grow more dependent on artificial heat and light. If I’d kept mine in until western Wyoming spring temps matched conventional charts on chick raising, they’d have been in the house until they were 17 weeks old. Yea yeah, not happening! Now I brood outdoors from the start. Every batch. Every time.

 

[Mrs. K]

I really do not believe the fully feathered idea. I have laying pullets that are I got April 6 and I put them out last week. Keeping chicks in too small of a container is worse than cooler temperatures. Mine are alive and thriving. We have had temperatures at night from 25 degrees to 49 degrees. If they are cramped get them out.

If you worry about it, set them outside for the day, starting with them in the coop, let them come out into the run on their own terms. At night, take the brooder down, and put them back in it. They will feel more secure in it as it is familiar. But you really only need to do it once or twice. Then they will be fine in the coop.

Mrs K