When to move chicks to coop and is Rose a rooster?

[dogsmum]

Hello everyone,

I tried to look for this on forum b/c I'm sure it's been asked before. Can I move my girls out to their coop at 4 .5 weeks old. I have 11 chicks, 3 weeks now, 3 Buffs, 3 Black Australorps, 2 Silver Laced Wyandottes and 3 Americaunas. We are building a 8x5 coop this week and it will be done by Easter. Can I move the girls out to the coop with thier heat lamp at 4 1/2 weeks old? I live in Waverly, CO and so it's still cold and windy during the day and down in the 30's at night. I thought if I set up the heat lamp in the coop at 70 degrees for that first week that they would be good at night and if warm during the day 60's could they go out in thier run if they wanted to? I love them all so much and don't want to do anything to harm them but the dust in the house is almost unbearable from their aspen shavings?

Also one of our buffs is huge. She's much bigger than the other two Buffs and her legs are twice the size and her crown is much larger and very red while the other two 3 weeks old have longer tail feathers and just little nubbins of crown are showing. Is Rose a roo? I can keep a roo for the first year but May 2012 I'm moving them into town. Are Buff roo's loud or will he have to be a house chicken? How can you tell at 3 weeks old who's a pullet and who's a roo? They were all sexed??? When do thier spurs grow in?

Any help would be appreciated!

 

[chickensbythesea]

I can't say for sure if she's a roo without pictures, but it certainly sounds that way, those are all pretty strong signs of a male. If you look at her feathering, are the neck and saddle feathers pointier and glossy? As for the loud factor... It's a rooster. They're pretty much ALL loud. He'll be crowing well before May 2012, so you'll have time to decide if he needs to be inside, and if you can handle having him inside (my house's acoustics make the roosters sound like they've got megaphones). Spurs will grow in very slowly, my buff who hatched last June has about 1/2 inch nubs still, and when they get too long they're easy to remove and it's not cruel at all.

Even if they were all sexed, there's never a 100% guarantee, and 1/11 isn't too bad, most hatcheries I think say 90%. If need be, you can always try to rehome him on here or craigslist.

 

[dogsmum]

Thank you Chickens by the Sea. Rose the Rooster, hmmm sounds sweet. She's either a rooster or just a very big girl for her size. When do they start crowing? Rose sounds different too when making the alarm sound. Where do you live by the sea? Someday I want to live on the Oregon Coast. Have you read the book Still Life with Chickens Starting Over in a house by the sea a memior by Catherine Goldhammer? Very sweet.

What do you think about putting them out at 4.5 weeks old with heat lamp in a tight henhouse?

 

[Fallen Leaf Farm]

My BO are 7 weeks old now. The roo in the bunch was slower to feather out....wing feathers were more squared off where the pullets were longer towards their tails, and he grew tail feathers much later than the girls. His comb was redder quite early while the girls' are still cream colored. At 2 weeks I knew he was a roo.
I have a 1 year old BO Roo that has spur growths on his legs, but nothing sharp yet. We will remove his spurs as soon as they become an issue. He does crow, but nowhere near as much as my neighbor's rooster. Since my birds are locked in the barn at night, if he does crow early in the morning, no one hears him but the girls and the horses. He'll crow when someone strange is at the barn, if he feels he needs to tell me he's the boss (yea, right!), or when the neighbor's roo is crowing. Most days he doesn't even crow. He really is fairly quiet.
Both sets of my chicks were sexed. One roo per batch.

I'm in the Sierra Nevada and it's still been cold here at night and cool during the day. I just put my kids out in the barn a week ago. They are fully indoors still with access to the heat lamp at all times. Sometimes they sleep near it, other times I find them scattered around the stall. I was worried I was putting them out so soon, but the water trough was just too small for 9 of them. They seem to be doing fine and enjoying their freedom. Next project is putting up the dog run outside their stall so they can go outside and see/be seen by the older birds when the big girls free range. They'll be locked inside the barn at night because of coyotes.

 

[Fred's Hens]

If you can provide them a draft free place to sleep, under a heat lamp, of course, they can go outside at almost 5 weeks. No problem.

 

[juliette2009]

Fred's Hens :

If you can provide them a draft free place to sleep, under a heat lamp, of course, they can go outside at almost 5 weeks. No problem.

I agree! The heat lamp will give them heat if they need it, and they are free to "roam" when they feel like it.​

 

[dogsmum]

Thank you everyone. Well by everyone's accounts Rose, our Buff Orpingtons is a roo then. She is so much bigger than the other two with a very red comb and hardly any tail feather growth. Well she'll be Rose the Rooster then. For the next year I'm living outside of town but next May moving to Laramie, WY where no roos allowed so we'll have to see. Maybe I can find him a home or maybe he'll be quiet. We'll never eat our girls they will all retire in their own time so we'll see.

Our coop will be done by next week so I'll put them out with their light. They are very bored in their refridegrator box. We are tying kale and other greens from the wire top and they spend hours pecking and pulling and eating at their greens but they will love more space and explorations. Thank you again!