proper temperature for 4-5 week old chicks

[NewFlockOnTheBlock]

Our chicks are 4-5 weeks old and currently spending nights in a stock tank set up in the middle of the living room, with a heat lamp hanging over it. We'd like to move the stock tank to our sun porch but it gets much colder there at night, with the temperature dropping to around 50 degrees. The living room stays at about 60 degrees or higher at night. Will the chicks be OK in the colder sun room, maybe with two heat lamps? I looked through a bunch of chicken books and nowhere does it say definitively what temperature is appropriate for chicks at this age. Some say "room temperature" (which I interpret as around 70 degrees), others advise that chicks may or may not need supplemental heat after 4-5 weeks, depending on the weather.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Take them out there with no lamp and provide a "huddle box" (upside down box with one side cut out for egress) where they can fit to warm if they need/ want

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

The main question is what temperature are they currently acclimated to? Sudden temperature changes can cause problems more than the actual temperatures.

Another question is how feathered are they? If they are mostly feathered on the body they will be fine. They will pile like puppies at night to keep warm.

At 4-5 weeks I would be brooding at about 65-70, so I might run a single heat lamp at night for another week or two, but not during the day.

 

[azygous]

A more accurate way to look at the "proper" temperature for chicks is to understand first that you aren't heating the brooder. You are providing a heat source by which the chicks can warm themselves. By age four weeks, chicks have enough feathers to keep their body heat from escaping that they only need a minimal heat source, and that would be primarily at night when their metabolic processes, converting food calories to body heat, slow down.

It would be similar to you being comfortable in a 68F room during the day when your metabolism is in high gear, and you need a blanket to keep warm at the same temp when you sleep at night.

 

[NewFlockOnTheBlock]

Thanks all! This helps.

A huddle box probably won't work very well in our case because we've been providing perches for a few weeks now and the chicks prefer to roost on those at night. I suppose we could poke holes in the sides of the box and insert the perches in there.

Some our chicks have more feathers than others at this point but most of their feathers are on the wings and tail, with some on the back and chest. Bellies, chests, and undersides of the wings are still downy.

Outside weather has been mostly in the low 60s during the day, and usually breezy/windy. We put the chicks outside in a fenced-in enclosure for a few hours each day and hang a heat lamp on the fence in case they need it. They will usually run around for a while but then most of them will gather under the heat lamp and that's when we move them back indoors. Then once they're inside they will sit under the heat lamp for a while to warm themselves before they start running around again. So to me that's a sign that they do still need a heat source when the ambient temperature is in the low 60s.

I think we'll try moving them to the sun room and providing a heat lamp or two.

 

[lazy gardener]

Chicks raised with heat lamps should be weaned off heat by 3 weeks of age if kept in the house. By 4 - 5 weeks of age, they should be weaned to outdoor temps, and should be just fine moved into a coop and secure run at that time. It requires proper adjustment of their temp as they mature. My chicks are brooded outside with a heating pad cave, and wean themselves off heat by 4 - 5 weeks of age with night time temps going down into low 40's high 30's.

 

[azygous]

I agree with LG. I might go so far as to state that coddling chicks with heat slows down their ability to acclimatize to cooler temps and prevents them from being cold hardy.

Chickens are designed to cope with very cold temperatures. You're losing the advantage that cooling fall temps afford to further this acclimatizing process.

Your chicks should require no heat during the day. They are eating enough calories to keep plenty warm with their existing feathers. They will need a bit of heat at night for the reason I provided previously (slower metabolism). But by age five or six weeks, they should be well feathered by being exposed to cooler temps and should require no further heat source. When you see feathers on the heads and backs, they are equipped to deal with cold temps standing on their little heads.

 

[Sparrowsong98]

Chicks raised with heat lamps should be weaned off heat by 3 weeks of age if kept in the house. By 4 - 5 weeks of age, they should be weaned to outdoor temps, and should be just fine moved into a coop and secure run at that time. It requires proper adjustment of their temp as they mature. My chicks are brooded outside with a heating pad cave, and wean themselves off heat by 4 - 5 weeks of age with night time temps going down into low 40's high 30's.

Can I just take the lamp from mine, I try getting it up higher and it just goes FLOP and is back where it was.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I use a heat lamp to brood my chicks. They come to think of it as their mother, so it doesn't surprise me they keep returning to it. They even get stressed out when I remove it

The more heat you supply the longer it takes to grow in feathers, so sometimes you have to remove it, or keep it off for part of the day. I moved mine out in the spring at 4 weeks with similar temperatures as yours and mine thrived.

When I move mine outside to the yard for the day a 5 gallon bucket laid on it's side will heat up in the sun like a brooder. I never provide extra heat when I have them out, just the bucket. Mine will go out for the day as early as the first week based on the temperature.

I hang my lamp from the ceiling with a secure chain or twine for safety and ease of raising and lowering.

I would put them out, than check on them later. Odds are they will pile in the corner and be fine, and you will notice more feathers growing in as they are forced to.

 

[lazy gardener]

Can I just take the lamp from mine, I try getting it up higher and it just goes FLOP and is back where it was.

More info???? How old are they, what is the temp in warm and cool end of the brooder? How many chicks, size and location of the brooder? What are you using for a brood bulb? If you are depending on the clamp (sounds like you are) then you are inviting a fire. You can decrease bulb wattage if you can't easily raise the lamp. Pic of your brooder/lamp set up, and more info needed.