# Chick temp



## 2rain (Jun 2, 2013)

So I just moved my chicks outside for the first time at 2 and a half weeks it's kinda getting chilly because its getting to be night and I checked the temp outside and it's 62 is that warm enough? They don't seem to be panicked and huddling to much (I think)


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## cheechbello (Apr 28, 2013)

2rain said:


> So I just moved my chicks outside for the first time at 2 and a half weeks it's kinda getting chilly because its getting to be night and I checked the temp outside and it's 62 is that warm enough? They don't seem to be panicked and huddling to much (I think)


They are fine. What breeds are they? Most breeds will do well in even very cold temperatures.


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## JC17 (Apr 4, 2013)

At 62º they're probably ok.


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## 2rain (Jun 2, 2013)

Lemon coo coo orps. Just brought them in for the night was to worried they would be cold I feel like a momma when their baby goes to collage! Ha


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## JRaymond (Apr 2, 2013)

I would provide them with a light just in case especially since they are only 2.5 weeks old. That will give them the option if they need or want extra warmth


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## Bee (Jun 20, 2013)

They'll be fine and actually be hardier for it. I wouldn't heat them up at night at temps that high. They will provide each other warmth .


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## 2rain (Jun 2, 2013)

Would just a normal bulb help?


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## Bee (Jun 20, 2013)

They really don't need any heat at all...they have each other.


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## 2rain (Jun 2, 2013)

*update* we put them out in their new coop by the time it's evening they are screaming to go in to their lamp I always just give in because I don't want to bother neighbors suggestions?


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## Jim (Sep 26, 2012)

2rain said:


> *update* we put them out in their new coop by the time it's evening they are screaming to go in to their lamp I always just give in because I don't want to bother neighbors suggestions?


2.5 weeks, 62 out, I would have a heat lamp for them to use at night up to 4 weeks old at least. We all do it different. Now, when that lamp goes off, the first few nights, they do make a ruckus. It seems to really freak them out, like the end of the world, and it is for them, they are used to 24x7 daylight, then all of a sudden it goes pitch black.....


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## 2rain (Jun 2, 2013)

Okay they are like 3 and 1/2 weeks old and are to big for the brooder so just leave them or hook up the lamp up out there?


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## Jim (Sep 26, 2012)

This is the chart/general rule I use. Bee sounds like she/he uses a different process. Sounds like you have flexibility, you just have to decide and go with your gut, and best decision you find based on your own research. 

Age of Poultry (feathered) Chick	Degrees in
Fahrenheit
1st Week	90 - 95*1
2nd Week	85 - 90
3rd Week	80 - 85
4th Week	75 - 80
5th Week	70 - 75
6th Week +	70*2


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## ShowBarnMom (Jul 12, 2013)

It's really hot here, so I do things differently. But it will give you an opinion. During the day, no one gets a lamp. It's 110*. At night, for first ~week, I give a red bulb light, high enough to just barely heat the area. I like to see 75* on my temp gun. Right now our nights are about the same. So after a week I turn off their lamps, and see what happens. Haven't needed one since. 

However. Winters are different. I use a lamp if its below 70 till they are 4 weeks or mostly feathered. Unless its windy or rainy. Then they get one if they aren't fully feathers. 

I spoil my chicks. That being said it got down to 65 last night and I have 3 3 week old Welsummers with no lamp outside.


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## Bee (Jun 20, 2013)

At that age mine have been weaned from the lamp and are fully integrated with the flock, living on the coop floor. The coop is open to the air all around...no solid walls. 

Unless nighttime temps get to 50* or below, I don't supplement their body warmth with a heat lamp. Now...all that changes if one is talking about 2 chicks as opposed to 22 chicks....2 chicks won't be able to keep each other warm in an open area if the night is cool, windy, damp at 50*-60* and might require a light heat or a wind block. 

Heating up their living space, especially in already warm temps is asking for proliferation of pathogens in the environment. Anyone currently wondering why their chicks are all dying from cocci, it could be this...too hot of temps at all times that can make a chick dehydrated and more susceptible to disease, poor air quality created by the excess heat and humidity in the brooder can be a petri dish for pathogens, feeding medicated feeds that keep them from acquiring their own~stronger~immunities to pathogens and also inhibits the growth of healthy flora in the intestines...and then you put them outside. 

Outside there are a high count of cocci in the soils right now as the whole world seems to be having a very hot, very wet summer for their climate...so chicks that have not been hardened off, have no natural immunities, and are marginally dehydrated are placed on soils heavy with naturally occurring pathogens. 

The books and the charts don't actually apply to real life situations as they do not take into account the total living conditions of a chicken in any place in the world. 

I've spoken with an old timer in the chicken world who is next door neighbor with the lady who wrote Storey's Book on Chickens...she's only had chickens a couple of years and does not do the hands on work with them. She is a professor and spends little time actually learning about chickens but does glean info from a variety of sources and compiles a book on that info. 

To gain your own knowledge about the true nature of chickens, one must do your own experiments and gauge the outcome~where you live and under the conditions your chicks are experiencing at this moment. Do it often and remember what you've learned from actually applying your methods...then you can own your information. 

Whenever you get advice from someone that goes contrary to what you've read in a book, it could be because that person has experimented with different aspects of chicken husbandry and can own their experience. Most poultry books sound exactly the same because they are quoting the exact same sources and information~but have never actually tried anything different from what they've sourced.


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## 2rain (Jun 2, 2013)

*update* finally got the courage to leave them out tonight after finding them wandering the room out of their brooder they are fully outside in a dog crate (just to make sure no one has a chicken nugget) they are sleeping and doing fine as far as I know hope it goes smoothly!


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## Jim (Sep 26, 2012)

2rain said:


> *update* finally got the courage to leave them out tonight after finding them wandering the room out of their brooder they are fully outside in a dog crate (just to make sure no one has a chicken nugget) they are sleeping and doing fine as far as I know hope it goes smoothly!


Great news


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