5 week old chicks to go outside.will they need any heat?

[cass1776]

They are feathered its 30 to 40 during the day and 20 to 30 at night.I'm new to this,but after reading the thread about chickens in Alaska I'm sure I need no heat but I was just curious because of their young age,plus they are in the house, by suddenly putting them on the coop it would be a big drop in temp compared to what they are used to.any input would be great thanks. Oh I have six coop is 5 x5 and they are cold Hardy breeds

 

[Pastor Mike]

You will need to slowly weatherize them . Did you raise the heat lamp weekly as the books say to do? You will need to climatize them before sending them out into the cooler coop. They will need to feather out more. We sent ours out to the garage to tuffen up for several weeks to prepare for the coop.

 

[cass1776]

Yes I have raised thelamp its 75 to 8o in the brooded right now.I don't have a garage to move them to.just a basement or the coop

 

[jtl977]

Ever consider just keeping them in the basement? That is what we do. While it bypasses the cold issue it does create other issues....here's how if you want to give it a whirl...http://www.clandestinechickens.blogspot.com

 

[JennyDillyAnna]

I'm in an almost similar situation. I have three chicks. The youngest is 5 weeks old. Night temperatures are in the 30s.

When I purchased the chicks from my neighborhood chicken seller/expert. He stated the that my 5 week old was good up to 40 degrees outside. He also stated, they could withstand any temperature by 4 months of age.

Then there's that rule of thumb. Drop 5 degress for every week of life. 5 week old would be about 70.

The youngest was only one week old and required a heat lamp. I kept them all together in my finished basement. I had a heat lamp for the first week and then moved them to a space heater a couple feet outside of the brooder to keep the room warm it was by a door. Over the course of many nights, I lowered the temperature of heater. I lowered the temperature of the heater all the way to 58 degrees.

Because our day temps here are up in the 60s-70s I've let them out in the pen. I've placed them in the coop with a heat lamp, chained twice, bulb dusted, cord tied. Heat lamp is two to four feet away from everything. Now I have 5, 6, and 9 week old chicks that love each other and cannot be seperated without the crying cheeps. I put them in the coop because my 9 weeker looked pitiful everytime she was put back in the brooder, she's huge and the little ones are pretty big now, feathered out. I only put the lamp on late at night and turn if off as the sun comes up to take the chill off. About 10 to 20 degree increase over outside temperature.

 

[Pequena Bandada]

We put our four week old chicks out in the coop last week with two heat lamps hung next to each other. I hung foil insulation over the lamps to make a bit of a roof so the heat wouldn't escape upwards. We turn one heat lamp off during the day but have both plugged in at night to compensate for the extra cold temperatures. Today the high was in the 50s and the low tonight is 25. I haven't measured the temperature near the chicks but they seem to be just fine.

 

[abhaya]

If i read that right they are staying together with an older one for warmth. I would take away all heat so they can get used to the cold in the house. give them a few days see how they do and then out to the coop chickens are way stronger than we think they are. as long as the coop is draft free they should be ok if they are staying together for heat.