Acclimating chicks to outdoor

[KBGB]

Hi All
I live in Georgia - temps this week will be 40s in the night and 60s/70s during the day. We have 6 baby chicks that will be 4 weeks old Monday. We have them inside our house in their brooder. We want to move them into a dog crate in our coop to begin the integration process with our three hens who are 6 months old. Our thought was to put them in the crate with the heat plate and put them in a segregated area in the run on sunny days. My husband is really nervous about how to acclimate them to the outdoors with such a big swing of temps when they have been inside our house the whole time. Are they okay to handle this since we will have heat available for them at first? Any tips?
Thanks!!

 

[Lady of McCamley]

You will need to go through a hardening off process to acclimate them first since they've been in the house. Maybe in the garage for a week? Then coop?

As to actual chick ability, my broody hatched chicks are up and running with momma in the cold (20's 30's) running around in their little down jackets, using momma as a warming hutch, by day 2 or 3. So chicks don't need constant heat to grow....just the ability to get warm when chilled. But my chicks are hatched in the local environment and harden naturally.

Artificially brooded need adjustment time. It's good you've used the heat plate as that acts more like a mother hen than the heat lamps (which definitely cause chicks to need hardening time).

My thoughts.
LofMc

 

[Coops Dad]

Our incubator chicks go into an indoor brooder for 2 weeks in the spring and fall (for central Texas's "normal" weather, one week in the summer or four weeks in the winter. Then they're moved to an outdoor brooder (with a heat plate in cooler weather) that's located in the tractor shed which serves as the main flock's hangout until they gain enough size to be integrated into the flock.

They've got about six acres, two coops, several pallet lean-to's, a couple of old tractor implements, a lot of tall pasture grass and some shrubbery to use as safe houses if they're receiving too much attention as the new kids in town.

If momma hatched them? They're her responsibility. Most of our brooded chicks grow up big, healthy and a little skittish of people and our dogs. The incubated ones seem to be less prone to skittishness and more prone to approaches by people and dogs.

None of our hen-reared chickens have been eaten by our main dog but she's killed three human-reared chickens.

She's a Siberian Husky GSD mix with an insanely high prey drive that's mostly under control. If a chicken walks by her, she'll ignore it. If it runs by her, flies by her or spooks and starts acting like it's trying to get away...

 

[rosemarythyme]

Hi All
I live in Georgia - temps this week will be 40s in the night and 60s/70s during the day. We have 6 baby chicks that will be 4 weeks old Monday. We have them inside our house in their brooder. We want to move them into a dog crate in our coop to begin the integration process with our three hens who are 6 months old. Our thought was to put them in the crate with the heat plate and put them in a segregated area in the run on sunny days. My husband is really nervous about how to acclimate them to the outdoors with such a big swing of temps when they have been inside our house the whole time. Are they okay to handle this since we will have heat available for them at first? Any tips?
Thanks!!

So your chicks are old enough to be out without heat, however since they haven't been weaned off heat you'd need to do that first.

Will the crate location provide them with adequate draft protection and weather protection? If so, you should be safe to put them out in the crate with their heat plate, and they can decide for themselves how much heat they need. My guess is they probably won't really use it during the day, and you can probably dial it back (if it has temperature settings) every few days and remove it in a week.

If there's sunny days and you want to put them out in the run for a bit, that's fine too, however they should be given access to heat and shelter from sun/wind in case they want it. If the set up doesn't really allow for that then I'd concentrate on getting them off heat completely, then you can start working on integrating them in the run.

 

[Ridgerunner]

They are four weeks old. Most chicks are fully feathered by 4 to 5 weeks. If you have been feeding them a relatively high protein starter they feather out faster than chicks fed a lower protein diet. They are familiar with a heat plate so they know how to use it. Many heat plates are only good for down to 50 F but your chicks are 4 weeks old, not straight out of the incubator. They don't need much heat, they are practically feathered out by now. As long as they have decent wind protection I don't see any heat issues. In those temperatures my guess is that they will ignore the heat plate during the day and may or may not not use it at night. But if they need it at any time they will use it.

I understand you are nervous. You probably should not believe everything a stranger like me says over the internet anyway. So try this. Put them out there in that dog crate during the day when you can observe. No heat. Let them tell you how they can handle those temperatures. Maybe you can believe them. That doesn't tell you about at night but it does during the day.

My brooder is in the coop. I use a heat lamp but others on here use heating pads or heat plates. As long as they are properly set up any of them can work. Some people like to keep their chicks inside a few days after they hatch so they get more active, I don't. Whether it is the heat of summer or below freezing in winter I put my chicks straight from the incubator into my brooder. I do not acclimate mine to the outside before they go straight in there. As long as they have a spot warm enough where they are and can get to it they don't care how cold it is somewhere else. I find that mine straight from the incubator or post office are excellent at regulating where they need to be.

If you were moving them from a tropical climate to cold temperatures, I agree acclimation is best. But you are not, you are providing heat. I don't see where they need acclimating to that any more than my chicks need it straight from the incubator. Your chicks will acclimate while out there since they will be exposed to those cooler temperatures. In a couple of weeks in those temperatures they won't need any heat but since you are nervous it won't hurt to give them that option. In two weeks (or before) see where they choose to sleep.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Also keep in mind that baby chicks snuggle together to keep warm. If there is no other heat source, at night this can be sufficient to keep them comfortable, if the temps are not extreme, IMO, especially once they are feathered.

 

[KBGB]

Thanks everyone!

 

[Lizzy733]

How 'available' are you to monitor them?

I like to get mine outside in a covered puppy play pen pretty early on when the weather's nice and keep an eye on them. (From 2-3 weeks under close supervision)

Just like a toddler at the park, you can generally tell when they've had enough and are ready to go back inside. Generally, the first trip will be pretty short. I do this and this gradually becomes longer and longer until they are outside all day and coming in for the evenings only.

I prefer integrating them in the run over the coop due to my chickens' behavior. - the best success seems to be the highest traffic area where they'll have constant exposure to the big girls. I can generally have them outside and mingling with the big girls from 4-5 weeks of age, but still bring them in at night till temps ease or I'm confident integration is complete. As bedtime tends to be when the bullied get serious, kicking them off the roosts.

Keeping an eye on them can be popping out for a checkup or sighting them through a window after the early stages. Also gives you a good feel for how the big girls will react once they're loose and you can pick out the problem hens early and plan around them.

 

[KBGB]

Just an update that the babies are happily integrated into the coop and doing great! Thanks for the help!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Good job!