At what age/temprature can chicks live outside (and a couple other questions)

[ahoffie]

My chicks are about 5 weeks old. I have started to put them outside during the day, but can I put them outside during the night the temp drops to 40 degrees C. Is that too cold for them? Thank you!!!!

 

[lazy gardener]

They should be fine outside at night. You want to acclimate them to cold weather gradually, which I assume you have been working on right along.

 

[Blooie]

Many of us are finding that it's actually easier to integrate youngsters when they are younger, instead of waiting until they are close to full sized. When they are chicks, the older birds don't consider them to be a threat to the pecking order. So, if the flock has plenty of room in the run and in the coop, integration at 3 - 6 weeks goes well. Add to this, the ease of brooding with a heating pad... and it gets progressively easier to raise chicks. Check out this article: https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/yes-you-certainly-can-brood-chicks-outdoors

Azygous is the queen of early integration. She came up with a "panic room" in the coop. It's a wire enclosure where the chicks are started, then when they are between 3 - 6 weeks old (I'm not sure just how soon she does it.) she opens little doors that allow the chicks out into the coop with the adults. The chicks can come and go through their little doors, but the adults can't follow them into their "panic room". She continues to feed chicks, and provide their heating pad in the "panic room".

Absolutely!! I raise them outdoors, even just as soon as they are dry and fluffy from the incubator, are eating and drinking, and know where their heating pad cave is. I have full integration by the time they are 3-4 weeks old. I use the same portal system that @azygous uses -- the one that @lazy gardener mentioned. I've always used a wire pen right out in the run with the older birds, and just left one side open a crack. It was only open wide enough for the chicks to get back in, but the Bigs couldn't follow. But this year we cut openings in their wire pen, then fitted little plywood chick-sized doors into it the way @azygous does. The chicks were a couple of weeks old, we opened the portal doors during the day. Worked like a charm!! The Littles could get back into their pen, but the Bigs had no way to follow. It really didn't matter anyway - the Bigs weren't even interested in the Littles because they'd seen them everyday by then, and as @lazy gardener said, they didn't see the chicks as any kind of threat the way they would have seen new adults.

When I have chicks outdoors in the brooder, it's early spring here in northern Wyoming. Spring for us is 60+ mph winds, an occasional snowstorm all the way into the first week of June sometimes, and temps in the teens and twenties. I do not, nor will I ever ever again, use a heat lamp! I don't like the fire risk, don't like the strong, artificial heat, and don't like them having light on them 24/7. I don't like the dust and dander and 24 hour cheeping in the house. From their first day, mine head for the heating pad as the sun goes down and they sleep all night long, not getting up until the sun comes back up. It's a close to having a broody hen raise them as I can get. I don't believe that chicks need that arbitrary timeline of 95, then 90, then 85, etc. If I did that in the spring here, my chicks would be laying eggs in the brooder before I felt I could safely let them out. I have never lost a chick to chilling or cold...they do a great job of regulating their own comfort. I did that with my first batch of chicks - once was enough. By the time I put them out at 5.5 weeks, I wasn't enjoying them very much anymore. The ones I raise with exposure to the adult birds, the natural day/night cycles, the same litter they'll be on as adults, and letting them explore as much as they want has worked the best for me. I don't stress over them, and I enjoy them much more this way.

Now, all that said, that's what is I have done very successfully, and so have hundreds of other people. It's not a new idea, and it wasn't my idea. I just found it and ran with it, and I've never looked back! But I'm the first to acknowledge that it isn't for everyone!!

 

[janes3girls]

I have new babies and several more on the way. I didn't catch the hens in time to keep them from sitting on them. (I was away for 2 weeks) anyway, 3 were born 1 week ago , outside. The temperature has been dropping to 45' at night but is 65-75 during the day. They seem to be fine. But the new ones will be born in 1 week. Should I let mother nature take its course or bring the babies in . I want to keep these hens and babies together. I have some pretty ruthless chickens.

 

[ahoffie]

So my chicks are 6 weeks old and the temperature drops to about 35-40 degrees at night will they be fine outside during the night without a heat lamp? I incubated them so do not I have any grow up chickens. Also I put them outside during the day when they were 5 weeks old during the day (not at night) and it rained three of them got wet and died. Why do you think that happened? Its was about 60 degrees outside I brought them in when I found the three huddled up and put them under the heat lamp and with the other chicks which were not wet. Thank you!!!!

 

[Blooie]

If they get wet, their feathers and down lose all of their insulating properties, and they can really get chilled. I don't know if there were other factors, but that's a real possibility. If you do put them out, make sure they are protected from wind and kept dry.

 

[marlene]

I put 2 week old outside with a brinsea eco glow as their source of heat. They spent the whole day out in their run, and only went under the heat at night. They feathered out super fast once I put them outside, within 1 week of going out, they were almost feathered out.

 

[dustyrailschick]

Hello, This discussion looks a little older, but I too have 3 week old chickens they are penned in our garage with lamp. During the day we reach 60's and sun, nights go down to mid-thirties. These are our first chickens so just wondering when they can transition to the coop and how I go about doing this. Thank you

 

[lazy gardener]

FYI, you'll get more response if you start your own thread. New threads are what keep the conversation perking along on BYC, so don't be shy about doing so! Your chicks are at an age where you can be turning the heat lamp off for increasingly long periods of time during the day. Do you have adult birds in your coop, or is it set up and waiting for these chicks? If you can take them out for a few hours (supervised) the next time you have a day off, that will be great. Is your coop and run set up so that there is no way they can squirt through the wire to escape? Is the run covered? Young birds are amazingly adept at flying. Smaller birds are also much more tempting to predators of all size and shape. And young birds are not predator savy yet. By the time they are 4 weeks old, they should be off heat all day long, perhaps only needing it at night. And even then, you can transition them to a huddle box for night time. Topics to do a search for: huddle box, panic room, wool hen. You might also be interested in Mother heating pad brooding (for next time), fermented feed, deep litter in both coop and run.

BTW, welcome to BYC!

 

[Pollmadoll]

I am considering putting my 2x 5 week old silkies in their coop overnight the temp will be at 14o lowest tonight. They have straw to bed down in. Is this ok