Winter brooding New England

[JasonL]

Hi all - old time member but been away a long time so had to re-up with a new name haha

So I'm considering winter (Feb hatch) chicks this year. Live in south central Massachusetts. Have an unheated 3 season porch and an unheated detached garage.

Was thinking a week or two inside, and then when they get to the point I can't stand them in the house move them to the porch (no drafts and direct sun all day) with two heat lamps. Then after a couple weeks move them to the garage, and then at 5-6 weeks they should be ok to wean off heat and move out. That'd put them early April outside with the flock. But I defer to the expertise of others

Another option is waiting until May (commitments in April prevents chick raising that month). But I'm impatient!

Thoughts from the more experienced?

 

[Ridgerunner]

Hi, welcome back.

At first I thought you were talking abut using a broody hen but I'll refocus. I built this 3' x 6' brooder in my coop. It has power out there. I use heat lamps to keep one end toasty no matter what the weather and let the other end cool off as it will. In summer I might use a single 75 watt bulb pulled up pretty high but you are not interested in summer. In winter I use two lamps, each with a 250 watt bulb and wrap it better. Two heat lamps so if one goes out they are still OK. One end stays toasty but the far end may have ice in it some mornings. I find chicks straight out of the incubator can manage staying in the right spot if they have the option. I can kind of understand your desire to be as safe as possible by having them inside, then on the porch, then in the garage but as long as you can keep one area warm enough they don't care what the temperature is somewhere else. They are not big picture animals, they just concern themselves with conditions where they are.

To me the biggest issue with brooding outside is the temperature swings. I've seen it go from below freezing to over 70 Fahrenheit pretty much overnight. Your brooder needs to keep up with that. You need one area always warm enough in the coldest conditions and an area cool enough in the warmest conditions. If you are using a heat lamp size is your friend in that.

How will you keep water from freezing? When it's that cold I put the waterer real close to the heat lamp to keep it thawed.

If you brood them outside where they are exposed to heat and cold they acclimate pretty quickly. I've had chicks 5-1/2 weeks old go through nights in the mid 20's Fahrenheit with no extra heat. I'd have tried that at 5 weeks but it didn't get that cold so I really don't have direct experience with that.

It is more risky when it is that cold. What might be more of an inconvenience in warmer times of the year can be deadly because of the cold. A chick that gets separated from the heat will be dead much quicker. Water might freeze. Are you more likely to have power outages in February than in May? When I was in Arkansas I'd incubate and brood in February, otherwise I'd run out of meat in the freezer in early summer. It's your call on how you will handle your impatience.

 

[JasonL]

Thanks for the thoughtful reply! My thinking behind the gradual moving was as they got a little sturdier they could better handle and ambient temp swings. I was planning on two red heat lights