2nd time chicken owner, 1st time chicken raiser

[Fionnros]

Even though I've been a member for a few years I was more of the occasional reader than a poster. Now I'm hoping to be more active.
A little background. I was raised on a cherry orchard in Southern California. My neighbor had chickens, and my Grandmother would send me with a basket to collect some regularly. My parents tried once when I was in grade school to keep chickens, but our dog got them. Got rid of the dog, and they never tried again. 30 years later I'm finding myself owning chickens myself, along with with being a mother to 3 boys and 2 Great Danes.
I bought some full grown Rhode Islands a few years ago. Great girls, DH from the city enjoyed the eggs, and my boys learned a lot about taking care of chickens. Sadly either the neighborhood fox or a raccoon got to them towards the end of winter a year ago.
About a month ago my DH had mentioned that Tractor Supply had baby chicks for sale. A week later we stopped by. The minimum I could get was 6, so I got 6 Red Pullets. A few days later I realized I forgot to ask how old they were.
Now the coop has been refurbished and the weather here in Maryland is becoming rather nice during the day. So I have a plan that I wanted to run by you guys to make sure I'll be doing things correctly. A friend of mine said that not all chicks will survive to adulthood, I don't want prove her right.
In a few days I was thinking of transferring them out to the coop (they've been occupying my guest room for the last few weeks).
I'm almost out of starter feed, so the next bag I was going to get is grower feed along with a bag of scratch (I noticed they've been pecking at the gritty dirt so I'm taking that as a sign). I'm hoping to go the GMO free route.
So without knowing their age, are they ready for all this?
Being relatively new to raising chickens is there any advice you would like to share?

 

[Fionnros]

I was really hoping that picture would be right there instead of a link. Oh well, as you can see they have most of their feathers. Just a little fuzz left on their necks and under their wings. Their height is about 10 inches when they pay attention.

 

[nbenevento]

The link to the picture isn't working for me. Regardless, TSC usually sells chicks that are only a few days to a week old so they have to be somewhere around a week plus however long it has been since you bought them. What are the temperatures like where you live? I am thinking you should wait until they are fully feathered but without being able to see the picture and not having a whole lot of info about them, I really don't know what to tell you. You gave a lot of background on you and the history of it all but not a lot about these current chickens. What else can you share?

 

[Fionnros]

Sorry I thought the picture would work.
I bought them on April 12th, so thank you. That would mean this Friday they would be approximately 6 weeks.
They're between 7-10 inches tall, they have about a foot of lift when trying to jump/fly. They're getting more and more adventurous, and prooving how smart they're getting too. None of them can figure out what to do with a bug yet. One of them has already started acting like the mother hen. Being the first to explore, yell at others who get too rambunctious, that kind of stuff. They started scratching a couple weeks ago.
It looks like Wednesday night should be the last drop in the 40's, after that they are calling the lows in the mid 50's to 60's

Let me see if I can attach a picture properly.

 

[hilari221]

Yours look just like mine, and they are between 4 & 5 weeks old.

 

[hilari221]

Now that I look closer, I would have to say yours are a few days to a week older than mine. I'm anxious to get them outside. They are growing restless in the brooder!

 

[nbenevento]

Ok that's much better! With that said, I would give them maybe 2 more weeks. Honestly, they would probably be fine going out after the low night temps are done but maybe ease them into it by putting them in during the day and evening and then bring them back inside overnight.

 

[Fionnros]

Awe, your girls look so cute hilari22. They do look really close.

Easing them into the new environment sounds like a great idea and wise advice. Thank you nbenevento. From the few times they have gone outside I know they will enjoy it. Would you recommend that they not go out if rain is in the forecast, or am I starting to be a little over protective?

 

[nbenevento]

No, I agree with you that they should not go out in the rain since they are not completely feathered. No need to add any stress on them like that. I think most people want to be protective and there is nothing wrong with that. Chickens are pretty tough though but a little tlc is still nice.

 

[Fionnros]

Thanks