When to put them outside

[aljeffers]

I have 3 Lavender Orpington's that are 10 weeks old. I live in Tennesse and temps are dropping into the low 20's at night. Can I put these babes outside? They are on the verge of over running the brooder and it is cramped for them. Any advice?

 

[GarthRyan]

I have 3 Lavender Orpington's that are 10 weeks old. I live in Tennesse and temps are dropping into the low 20's at night. Can I put these babes outside? They are on the verge of over running the brooder and it is cramped for them. Any advice?

I'm not sure, i would be a little scared to myself. I still worry about my 8 month olds when it's in the low 30's but I've read that chickens can actually tolerate the cold pretty well. Maybe someone with more experience will see this and chime in.

It worked out well for me, raising chicks, because i got them in early spring (it was still cold) but i kept them in the garage with a heat lamp then once they got old enough to put outside it was warm.

But anyways, good luck with yours, sorry that I didn't help much.

 

[aljeffers]

I put them out yesterday they are in a small section of coop to themselves and seemed fine when I checked on them this morning. If the temperature goes any lower I will probably put a heat lamp in just to be safe.

 

[GarthRyan]

Gotta be careful with a heat lamp though, not only because of fire risk but if it blows in the middle of the night it could kill them because of the sudden cold. (also some stuff I read, lol)

 

[aljeffers]

That's why I haven't put a lamp in before now; afraid they would become used to it. I guess I will just have to keep a close eye on them and see how they are acting when I go open the coop up in the morning. Thanks for the advice.

 

[GarthRyan]

You're welcome, good luck!

 

[Stewarts]

Are they completely feathered out? When you look them over, are there any bare patches where feathers are still coming in? With some of mine, it seemed to take for-ever for them to completely feather!!
If the coop is very well strawed, adding more keeps the heat in better and you have roosts that are at least a foot off the floor {warm air rises} that may work for them. I have a low roost for them, nest boxes they crowd onto and we just put a long 2x4 roost that is quite high up because we have two turkeys in with the chickens and they needed a better roost. I've been using only a 200 watt bulb. Wouldn't you know it, it popped! Now I have a heat lamp in there but only on for two hours in the early morning and the same at night. I'm going to replace it with a regular bulb for safety reasons because I don't trust it and because they have so much down and feathers on them, they don't need a heat lamp.

My turkey hen Amber, demonstrating the higher 2x4 roost and the
bulb that popped.

Roosts and nest boxes, a Co-Op hen is on the lower roost

Piled on the boxes for the night

 

[GarthRyan]

Lol @ them crowded on the nesting boxes. Do they do that with the roosts in there? Or was that before you put in the better roost? I guess that would keep them warmer though lol

 

[Stewarts]

Nope, my silly birds love to cram together like that all the time. This was long before the winter hit and its been a quite mild winter with snow, but warm temps on Prince Edward Island this year. Anything put in the coop automatically becomes their personal territory and open to anyone who can get up on top. They all pile like that on all the roosts and to keep warm they have such heavy down and feathers that they really don't have a problem with the mild winter we've had so far. Them's my babies!

 

[aljeffers]

So far so good; I put my 3 Lavender babes out 2 weeks ago and they seem to be doing fine. I am still a little worried so I check on them first thing every morning, and they are all huddled up together in the straw. I am still new to this (just got my first chick's in March), and I appreciate all the advise.