[Jon Feather]

I've kept poultry for 25 years but rarely bothered hatching eggs.  I now have 11 Gold Laced Wyandotte x Wheaten Game bantam chicks that have been under a heat lamp for 4 1/2 weeks.  They are pretty much feathered up now and I'm wondering when I can take them off heat and put them in outside in a small house and run.

Appreciate any advice.

[Eve]

Hi Jon,

Do they still sleep under the heat lamp at night or are they not bothered?

Have they been outside during the day? If so, what I do is look at when (at what sort of temperature) they start huddling together looking unhappy and cold.

At that age, if they've been outside before they'll be close to ready for outside life depending on the temperature at night (14C here last night but only 8C forecast for a few days from now).

But if they haven't been outside yet, I would give them a few days to get used to wind and learning to get out of the rain

[Jon Feather]

Thanks for that.  They have been out for one day.  They seemed to like it on grass with a bit of sunshine too.  I'll pop them outside during the day for a week or so and see how they go.   Thanks again.

[JEP]

i fitted are heat lamp with a dimer switch
and turn it down as they get older

[Jon Feather]

I do something similar, I raise it higher and higher (on the odd occasions I have a hatch).

I will be building the new incubator this week which should hold 100+ eggs.