Rhode Island

[dotknott]

Hi! The chicks can go outside in relatively warm temps around 6 weeks old, or when they are fully feathered. Fully feathered means that all of the chick fluff has been replaced by feathers, so there is little to no chick fluff left. If you have any more questions, don't hesitate to ask! Have fun with your babies!

That's right on. I will say, keep an eye on the temps. We get some wonky weather in the spring here and you may need to add a heat lamp. I try to make sure that I've got my outdoor chick setup somewhere that is easy to add a lamp temporarily if needed.

 

[Mom2Sav]

What do you consider relatively warm temps, 50's-60's? And what about night time? There will be 16 of them. Do they still huddle together once out in the coop if it happens to get cold at night?

 

[Mom2Sav]

Incidentally I lost a hen today. She was older maybe 3 or 4. She had been staying close to the coop for a few days but some of the older ones do that. She didn't seem to want to eat much yesterday. Today she just was lethargic. I brought her in (maybe I shouldn't have) cleaned off her bottom and tried to give her water. She just let it run out of her mouth. She went down hill rapidly. Then she convulsed a bit and died.

Any thoughts as to what happened? Everyone else seems fine. I lost a chick day before yesterday so now I'm getting paranoid.

 

[peopleRanimals2]

Oh, I'm really sorry about your hen. Unfortunately, it could have been from a lot of things. Maybe you should post on the medical forum of this site to try to narrow it down.
Until you find out what was wrong, you probably shouldn't put your chicks outside, until you know that whatever the hen had isn't contagious.
Yes, around 40 degrees and up is fine for chicks around 6 weeks, but it really depends on the breed. At night they will huddle together and stay warm, but if it starts getting really cold you might want to wait a bit before putting them out full time. Will you be integrating them with the rest of your flock?

 

[Mom2Sav]

The chicks won't be headed outdoors for at least 3 weeks or so. And I wasn't going to put them together with the bigger hens but I really have no experience with integrating chicks and hens so opinions are welcome! I can segregate or integrate the bigs and littles.

 

[peopleRanimals2]

You really could do it either way, but integrating chicks can be a little stressful. They will get picked on a little, and if you were going to do it, you would need to wait until the chicks were about the same size as the adults. There are different methods for integrating them, and you would need to read about what you think would work best for you.

 

[Mom2Sav]

You really could do it either way, but integrating chicks can be a little stressful. They will get picked on a little, and if you were going to do it, you would need to wait until the chicks were about the same size as the adults. There are different methods for integrating them, and you would need to read about what you think would work best for you.

As this is my first time with chicks can you tell me approximately what age they would be the same size? I currently have all full size chickens. They are RI Reds, Golden Comets or sex links or Isa Browns (can't figure out which they are since they were given to me), and the chicks will be full size (no Bantams) Barred Rock, Black Sex Link, Buff Orpington and Isa Browns. They don't seem to especially pick on one another except minor aggression when eating but I know the dynamic will change when more younger chickens join the flock.

 

[peopleRanimals2]

You will have to be the judge of when they are the same size, because it will be different for every bird. The chicks will have to be big enough to stand up for themselves a little, because they will get picked on while the pecking order is re-established. As long as they are pretty close in size, they should be fine.

 

[Mom2Sav]

Ok, I just wondered if by a certain age chicks are nearly full grown for the most part. Kind of like a ball park number that is typical for most chickens.

 

[peopleRanimals2]

Maybe 6-7 weeks old? That's when they are usually mostly fully feathered. 5-6 weeks is when most go outside.