Raising late hatched chicks through the winter

[Trish1974]

I have stayed in touch with the lady who sold me my araucana rooster back in February, and she emailed me a few days ago saying she had 9 chicks she would be selling, 7 white and 2 blacks. Apparently araucanas are very broody and she can't say no when they want to set. I agreed to take the 2 black ones when their mother weans them, which she stated is usually at 5 weeks. Right now they are 3 weeks old. Then it hit me last night, come December and January, when we are at our coldest, these little ones are still going to be kids.

I have not raised chicks in 30 years...and I'm pretty sure my mom did all the work then. I do not remember when they get all their feathers, or what types of temperatures they require during certain stages of growth, etc. I know they won't need actual heat when I get them, but will they be able to survive a northern Indiana winter at 3 months old? Last year between Christmas and the second week of January we had nightly lows of -15 and a few days where the high only got up to 0.

When I bring them home they will spend at least 2 weeks in my utility room for quarantine. Then they will be put outside, I'm guessing early to mid November. They will be in one of those little prefab coops in the run, fenced off from the rest of the flock. I'm guessing they will be there close to a month, as I want to make sure they are big enough to not be snuffed out by the mean girls. The prefab coop is out in the open, no wind block, and boy is that wood thin! I'm confident they would be okay in the main coop, which is inside a barn, but if integration doesn't happen that fast will they be okay by themselves in the cold coop? I refuse to add heat to the coop, as I'm too paranoid of a coop fire.

Any advice on how I should take care of young ones in cold weather would be greatly appreciated.

 

[azygous]

Your new chicks should be weaned off heat by the time you get them around five weeks of age. Chicks no longer need heat at three weeks during the day as long as the temps are mild. At four to five weeks, they have all their feathers.

However, you will need to acclimatize the chicks to cold temps before moving them outside to live. You can accomplish this by letting them have outdoor playtime during the day to gradually get them used to low temps, and not providing a heat source while they're indoors under quarantine.

This only addresses environmental issues, not integration issues. If you have adult chickens, you will need a good integration plan so the chicks' safety won't be jeopardized. Contrary to most common wisdom, it's easier to integrate chicks while they're as small as possible, rather than the same size as the adults.

 

[Trish1974]

Thank you, @azygous that was very helpful!

 

[steiggy]

I am keeping my late hatchers in the garage at the moment. I gradually lowered the heat lamp temp, until taking them fully off it last weekend. They turned 4 weeks on Sunday. My garage is attached to the house and usually stays around 50-55 degrees. I will be locking the babies in the coop during the day this weekend and bringing them inside again at night. I live in northern Wisconsin so it'll be a slower process getting them outside full time.