Heating in Coop and Keeping warm

[Anonymous]

Hi,

Im awaiting for my second lot of eggs to hatch this week (First lot not so good but i do have one healthy chick) and I hopefully I will have a few more birds for my collection. The idea is to have two separate chicken coops one for Lavneder bantams mainly for pleasure and and the other for orpingtons primarily for eggs the coups are not yet built or bought.

Now I appreciate this is very late in the season to be hatching chicks and soon bonfire night will be upon us which is when I really first notice the major drop in temperatures and you know winter is definately setting in, at this time the chicks will be about 7 weeks old?. I would be great if someone could give me some sort of idea based on my hatch period ( middle of september) what the requirements will be for getting these little beauties throough the winter period comfortably will be and specifically what sort of heating requirments they will need.

At what age can I introduce them into the extenal coup and will this need to be heated?, cost really isnt of importance as long as the chicks are comfrtable and healthy. If I require heating what type would users of the forum recommend, ive seen pictures of coops with tube like heaters in them? looking forward to the future do chickens need coop heating every year in the winter period?

At the moment the chicks well chick until wednesday (Fingers crossed) will be inside the house, at what stage can they go outside into my secure shed until the coups are ready for them, what sort of heating will they require and what sort of shelter will they require. I had thought of buying rabbit hutches for the next stage of growth?

Sorry so many questions, but I really need to forward plan as my wife keeps reminding me.

 

[tygrysek75]

Hi,when you move your chicks at 7 weeks they should be nicely feathered and off heat.When you have more of them they keep eachother warm,but for they comfort I would give them a brooder lamp just in case temerature would go down.Try not to spoil them with heat as they have to harden off before winter.In Poland temperatures during winter can go down up to -30 and inside unheated cop -10;-15.I know people who had raised chicks(with broody)in this condition so you should not worry to much.Frozen drinkers are more problematic.

 

[chrismahon]

We keep ours inside until 6 or 7 weeks, simply because we have no power in the separate garden and we want to reduce the risk of coccidiosis. Starting with small cardboard boxes and building up to a rabbit cage with a plastic tray base and cage top. Heat reducing all the time -plenty of stuff on the internet about rearing temperatures. As Tygrysek75 says at 7 weeks they will be off heat. But that does assume standard spring temperatures, so if it gets cold at night before they have their full feather set (downy at the base to keep the heat in) they will need extra warmth -but don't spoil them. Most important they are protected from wind and rain at all times until perhaps 12 weeks when they can get wet if they want to.

 

[E3lx]

Hi adelaide887, welcome to the forum! 99 99 99 99
...................................................................................................................................................
Hi jpeg6785,
Agree with chris and tygrysek!

 

[Chuck]

It is very late to be hatching chicks and while they will not need heat, they will certainly do better if you can extend the length of day with lighting.
Chicks hatched in spring have the advantage of the long days to eat more and therefore to grow on better, so you need to simulate the long days.

 

[Anonymous]

thanks as usual for all of your replies, really appreciated..

 

[Anonymous]

Hi guys.

Have deleted adelaide887 and her post above so it might be slightly disjointed if you read this thread.

It was an IP address in China and there was a sneaky little hyperlink in her post that pointed to some gaming page.

They do this to build links to a website to help with the search engine ranking.

Thanks jpeg6785 for reporting it 17 - sorry it took me so long to sort it out. The report had been closed down by one of the mods - they probably didn't realise the poster was fake and didn't spot the sneaky link.

Tim