6 week old chickens

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I have just got 3 six week old chickens, a light sussex, a buff orpington and a gold brahma. I wasn't intending to get them so young, but the farm didn't have these at POL (I just hope they are females). I hadn't read up about such young birds, and the only advice the farm gave me was to keep them out of daughts and said they would be ok in their coop, but to take them indoors if the weather turned cold. They weren't under a heat lamp any more at the farm. It was sunny and warm over the weekend so I let them have a supervised roam in their run, but put them in their coop before it turned cool later in the day. I hope that was ok? If anyone could give me further advice on such young birds I would appreciate it as I'm scarred I'll do something wrong!

Thanks,

Elaine.

 

[Tim]

Hi Elaine,

I have some at this age in my field. The first week or so, I catch them and put them in, they huddle up in the house (that is draght proof but ventillated at high level) by the second week, they go in on their own.

As long as they are fully feathered and have one another for warmth, they should be OK. If the weather was cold, I would consider giving them a 60 W bulb but ideally once they are into a day / night routine you don't want to put them back to 24 hrs light.

My 8 week old Marans are roosting now in their house, not even huddled up. The 6 week olds are huddled but content.

Tim