Six week old chicks and weather..
Sun, 09/27/2009 - 20:34
Hi, I have three six week old chicks that I have moved out to the chicken coop..the question I have is that so far the days are warm 70-78 degrees but the nights are in the 40's..The chicks are almost completly feathered out with a little bit lacking on the head..do they need a heat supplement at night or are they ok? Thank you so much in advance, Jamie.
I have heard they will need one over the winter for sure. I am not sure about the nights around 40.
I bought my flock at 8 weeks in April. The nights were in the mid-30's, and I made sure they had a heat source at least overnight. I even went so far as to put a timer on it so they would not overheat during the day. I kept that up until the overnights got on up into the upper 50's. One thing we have to remember is that chickens are descended from jungle birds, so the tropical climate is still in their blood!