Chicks in the rain

[feather16]

I’ve had chickens 8 years now - but I’m stumped. I’ve never had baby chicks this early in the year with all the crappy weather and it’s a big fat drag. I haven’t been able to bring the girls out for longer than an hour like 2x’s a week because of the rain, wind and just plain cold weather.

Well now they are 6 weeks old and mostly fully feathered.. can I put them out in the coop they are going to live in, during the day and bring them in at night? It’s a tractor supply coop with an enclosed run downs stairs of the coop. They’ll have plenty of space inside, safe from drafts (more so if I close the door). 40s at night just feels too cold still.. correct me if I’m wrong. I felt like I remembered 60° at night being the magic number.

I’m just curious about the rain and wind. It gets pretty windy here in the afternoon and nights, 8-10mph with 33mph gusts, which is pretty chilly for a tiny chicken, lol


Here’s the forecast - should I wait a week to bring them out, or is it okay with the rain? They have space to get away from it, but the wind does bring the rain in… eeek. thanks for your help! I’ve never run into this before, because I’ve never gotten chicken born in Jan before! XD I probably won’t again, because I hate that they haven’t really gotten much time on the grass yet.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Can the shelter be angled so winds don't drive rain in, or maybe a second one added (facing a different direction) just in case? As long as they have somewhere to shelter from the rain and winds that they are willing to use, they should be fine.

When my chicks are roughly 2 weeks old I figure they should be able to handle returning to their brooder when it's raining, so I don't micromanage them at that point. Yours are 6 weeks old, so definitely old enough to manage as long as they know where to go.

At 6 weeks they should also be able to stay in the coop and run full time, though if they haven't been able to go out much it's fine if you want to ease them into it by doing day time first for a few days.