4weeks old and want to let them go

[Momof2boyzz]

Hi everyone!! I am new to this site and new to chickens!! I have 6 babies, 3 red 3 black sexlink, all doing great! I have them in a pen with a heat lamp in the garage. I plan on moving them to my friends farm to free range on 25 acres. But of course we did not plan well and have to build something for them before they can move there. So I ask, if I let them go in my fenced yard, will they come back to the pen? If I make a ramp for them to get into it? It's currently on the ground...Ty so much for any advice!!

 

[Gingersnap722]

I wouldn't let them out in the yard at 4 weeks old. Predators could get them.

 

[TattooedMama]

Hi everyone!! I am new to this site and new to chickens!! I have 6 babies, 3 red 3 black sexlink, all doing great! I have them in a pen with a heat lamp in the garage. I plan on moving them to my friends farm to free range on 25 acres. But of course we did not plan well and have to build something for them before they can move there. So I ask, if I let them go in my fenced yard, will they come back to the pen? If I make a ramp for them to get into it? It's currently on the ground...Ty so much for any advice!!

What is the weather like in your area? They do still need heat at 4 weeks of age, so depending where you are at they likely still need a heat light, at least at night. Many say their chickens eventually learn to come back to their home at night and go to bed but I wouldn't personally be letting out small babies that age to free range unless supervised and locked up later. As the previous poster mentioned also, they are easy targets for predators at this age/size.

 

[Momof2boyzz]

Ty! I wasn't going to let them out this early, but wanted to prepare myself for when they do free range. Will they come come back on thier own? How can I train them to come back?

 

[Gingersnap722]

Mine will be 13 weeks old and they are still in a closed in run. I don't let them free range until they're fully grown. Once they start to free range, you may have to pick them up and put them in the coop for a few days until they get the hang of coming back in on their own. We have a ramp leading into our coop.

 

[TattooedMama]

Ty! I wasn't going to let them out this early, but wanted to prepare myself for when they do free range. Will they come come back on thier own? How can I train them to come back?

Oh sorry! I thought you were asking about now at their current age. My mistake.

 

[Ridgerunner]

If they consider the coop their home and are used to sleeping in it, they will want to return to it at night. Generally it’s enough to keep them locked in the coop for a week for them to get that message. When you are ready for them to go outside, just open the door and leave them alone. Sometimes they will all be on the ground in fifteen minutes. I have had some groups that it took a couple of days before one ventured to the ground. If you are patient they will eventually get outside.

I find with a raised coop they don’t always go back into the coop on their own at first. They tend to huddle in a group at the foot of the ramp but they do go back to the coop area. After dark it is pretty easy to just pick them up and put them inside. I wrote about that in post #5 in this thread.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/887159/strange-sleeping-place#post_13500920

It does depend on your weather as to when you can stop the heat. I’ve had broody hens wean their chicks by 3 weeks old and leave them totally on their own to make their way with the flock. That’s unusual, most wait until 4 to 9 weeks of age. My brooder is in the coop so is subject to outside weather. In our ridiculous heat wave a couple of summers back, I stopped the daytime heat at 2 days and stopped the overnight heat at 5 days. In the winter time I’ve provided heat for five weeks. Each batch is different.

My concern for them free ranging is more that at a young age they can get through my electric netting. I need mine to get about 8 weeks old before my fencing will keep them in. But at 8 weeks my brooder raised chicks are generally foraging with my adults.

 

[AmericanMom]

At around 3 weeks of age I move the chicks out to the grow out pen...I leave them enclosed for a couple weeks before allowing them out into their own yard for a short time.. Mind you, their run is perhaps 20x20 and covered with netting.. After another couple weeks I open their little door and let them come and go at will. By the time they are 2 1/2 months old they are ready to free range with the adults, they still have their own coop at night.. When they are 3 1/2 - 4 months old we close up grow out pen and they roost with the adults...

 

[Gingersnap722]

At around 3 weeks of age I move the chicks out to the grow out pen...I leave them enclosed for a couple weeks before allowing them out into their own yard for a short time.. Mind you, their run is perhaps 20x20 and covered with netting.. After another couple weeks I open their little door and let them come and go at will. By the time they are 2 1/2 months old they are ready to free range with the adults, they still have their own coop at night.. When they are 3 1/2 - 4 months old we close up grow out pen and they roost with the adults...

Your adults don't mess with the little ones? I know they're not that much smaller, but I'm afraid to let the little ones out to free range with the big girls until they're all the same size.

 

[AmericanMom]

Your adults don't mess with the little ones? I know they're not that much smaller, but I'm afraid to let the little ones out to free range with the big girls until they're all the same size.

Other then the occasional peck to get out of the way the older hens and the big roo do not mess with the chicks at all... The chick run is attached to the main coop but separated by chicken wire, the adults get used to the babies for over a month through this chicken wire before I allow the youngsters out to free range with the adults, by then they are just another chicken albeit a smaller one and make no mistake, the hens have no qualms about a peck on the butt or head to make the youngsters understand who is top dog. also, I have enough room that other then when I bring scraps or treats out the youngsters free range on their own, although they are in the same yard they move in separate groups. This has been the case each time I have integrated chicks/pullets with the existing flock..

For the last year I have added over 40 newbies to the existing flock with absolutely no issues.