Too cold to move chicks outside?

[AmberNate]

Hi everyone!
I’m a new chicken mama to 4 Easter Egger ladies. They are just about 8 weeks old and still in their brooder. The chicken farm we got them from told us to keep them indoors until the temperature outside matches the temperature inside. We’re in NJ and it’s in the 20s here right now! Our indoor temp is obviously not.
They’re getting so big and I feel bad that they have to stay inside for another month! I don’t feel comfortable using a heat lamp outside in the coop.
Can I slowly acclimate them to the colder temps some how? Should I just wait it out? Will they be ok? Also, since they aren’t outside and they can’t scratch, I feel like their nails are getting long. Should I trim them? These ladies are literally in a huge storage bin in my living room right now. Lol

 

[Folly's place]

Welcome!
Chickens in your living room? Awful! Can you move them to a garage, with some extra heat, so they can transition to outdoor temperatures soon? And having more space would be really beneficial too. Someplace that's not indoor temperatures, but not 20F at first.
Good luck! Winter chicks are more difficult, for sure.
Mary

 

[rosemarythyme]

They could've moved out already a few weeks ago, yes even at 20F. The key is to transition them to outside temperatures by reducing the temperature every few days. I'd aim for about 10 degree reduction every 5 days or so - if they seem comfortable with that you could reduce it even more.

You can do a combination of the following:
- Put them in a room with cooler ambient temperatures (such as a garage, or an unused room in the house with window cracked open to deliberately let in cold air).
- Raise your heat lamp (if using one) or switch to a lower wattage bulb, or possibly use a dimmer to reduce wattage. If using a heating pad, turn down the temperature one notch every 5 days.
- And/or take them outside for gradually longer periods of time, without heat (but with protection against winds/rain/snow).

 

[AmeliaBedelia]

Yes, slowly decrease the temps. They don't neeeeed the extra heat anymore, but if you just toss them outside it would be too much of a shock. Using a space like a garage or basement as a middle point between 60 degrees and 20 degrees is a good plan. Also, you can start taking them outside for a bit during the day if you haven't already so they're used to the outdoors.

 

[MissMonty]

Slowly decrease the temp they're at now until its close to being outside. It'll take you a few weeks to get to that point which is when temps will actually be rising anyways but once you slowly wean them off the heat if they're already fully feathered there isn't much to worry about.

 

[Ridgerunner]

What does your coop look like? I'm mostly wondering about ventilation and wind protection, but size is also important. With that few it sounds like you may have a pretty small coop. Do you have older chickens in the coop where you have integration issues?

I've had 5-1/2 week old chicks go through nights in the mid 20's Fahrenheit with no supplemental heat. To me yours meet the age requirement. My chicks had great ventilation up high (practically wide open) and great wind protection down low where they were. I don't know if your coop has that. Mine were also acclimated. They were raised in a brooder in my coop where one end of the brooder was kept toasty warm but the far end of the brooder could cool off as it would. Sometimes I found ice on that end, so my chicks were exposed to cold weather.

My suggestion is to take them outside for a while during the day when you can watch them. See how they react. This will help them get acclimated but, just as important, it lets you see how they behave in cold weather. You may decide that it bothers you a lot more than it does them.

I don't now if the 20's is your daily high or daily low. The high doesn't matter, the low is what is important. And it's not an average low, but what extremes they might see. I do think it helps for them to be acclimatized, but I also think that they can handle cold like the wild birds that overwinter where you are. The big difference in yours, once they are acclimatized, is that wild birds can decide where they sleep at night. Ours have to make do with the coops we provide, that's why I'm asking about yours.

Something to think on. How great is the ventilation where the wild birds are sleeping? They will hide from a wind but they are not trapped in an airtight location. Decent ventilation is important.

 

[AmberNate]

Welcome!
Chickens in your living room? Awful! Can you move them to a garage, with some extra heat, so they can transition to outdoor temperatures soon? And having more space would be really beneficial too. Someplace that's not indoor temperatures, but not 20F at first.
Good luck! Winter chicks are more difficult, for sure.
Mary

Thank you! My garage isn't heated and the temps are 20-30 degrees outside! I officially have the heat lamp completely off and we keep it in the 60s in our house. Patiently waiting for temps to get into the 50s outside. Maybe I can bring a little space heater into the garage? I get so nervous about unsupervised heating elements.

 

[AmberNate]

They could've moved out already a few weeks ago, yes even at 20F. The key is to transition them to outside temperatures by reducing the temperature every few days. I'd aim for about 10 degree reduction every 5 days or so - if they seem comfortable with that you could reduce it even more.

You can do a combination of the following:
- Put them in a room with cooler ambient temperatures (such as a garage, or an unused room in the house with window cracked open to deliberately let in cold air).
- Raise your heat lamp (if using one) or switch to a lower wattage bulb, or possibly use a dimmer to reduce wattage. If using a heating pad, turn down the temperature one notch every 5 days.
- And/or take them outside for gradually longer periods of time, without heat (but with protection against winds/rain/snow).

The heat lamp is completely off now and it gets down to 63 in my house in the evening. I could now move them into the garage maybe? But there's no heat at all in there and it's currently in the 20-30s outside. I get so nervous about unsupervised heating elements like a space heater or the heat lamp. The room that comes off the garage would work but it's my husband's home office and a brooder of chickens in the background of an important zoom meeting would not work.

 

[AmberNate]

Yes, slowly decrease the temps. They don't neeeeed the extra heat anymore, but if you just toss them outside it would be too much of a shock. Using a space like a garage or basement as a middle point between 60 degrees and 20 degrees is a good plan. Also, you can start taking them outside for a bit during the day if you haven't already so they're used to the outdoors.

Thank you! I'd love to take them outside during the day! The lady where we got them made me nervous..she said their little hearts would beat too fast to keep them warm and they'd pass out! I need to find a way to start exposing then to colder temps for sure. I think I need to figure out how to make the garage work.

 

[AmberNate]

Slowly decrease the temp they're at now until its close to being outside. It'll take you a few weeks to get to that point which is when temps will actually be rising anyways but once you slowly wean them off the heat if they're already fully feathered there isn't much to worry about.

Thank you! The heat lamp is completely off now and it gets down to 63 degrees in my house at night. They all sleep huddled up together. That's ok right? They're not too cold?