5 weeks to early to go outside?

[Coreyboy18]

Quote:
I felt horrible putting mine out last night for the first time, I certainly did miss them. But I know it's for the best... HAHA They are five weeks and two weeks. Now they are outside playing in the water that has built up from the rain.

 

[chickp]

We are hoping to put ours out at the end of this week at just under 5 weeks old. it is HOT here and does not drop much under 75 at night, but we'll still run a bulb if we need to. I think they'll be much happier; they peep peep peep for me to let them out of their box every time I walk by! I'm sure I will be a wreck, though....

 

[pgpoultry]

My momma hen is brooding outside in chilly Wales (no room in the hen house). I have provided her with a box, but she has chosen to roll the eggs out and sit outside, so I surrounded her with sheep hurdles and temporary fencing and placed a loose corrugated tin sheet over her head to protect her from rain. she is right by the side of the house, so predation is less of an issue.

Her last brood (just a few months ago) were hatched in a decaying rabbit hutch which she chose to brood her last clutch in. I covered the hutch with a similar arrangement as above and dragged it into a tumble down barn. (Can't do this now as the barn is being re-built).

Anyway, just to say that hens do seem to be able to brood successfully outside providing it is not really cold (and the chicks know to keep under momma if they are not warm enough). May not be ideal, but sometimes it is what you have to do because of lack of facilities.

A friend close by 'lost' one of her hens. No sign of the hen for a month.....she then reappeared a month later with 14 chicks in tow! It seems she had successfully brooded them near a main road with foxes, kites, crows and buzzards around and no human help. It had been a very wet and cold month with night time temperatures only in the 40's.

Aren't hens wonderful??

Sandie

 

[whillo]

My girls have been roosting on a 6" high 1 x 3 for the last week. All except the little bantam barred Plymouth Rock. She only goes to the roost half the time. She is the only one that doesn't have some sort of neck feathers and as a matter of fact, is loosing so much of her soft down that her skin shows through on the wings! I feel the other chicks will be able to go out in a week, but I'm worried about this little one. Would you keep her in alone? Keep another bantam in with her ... maybe the Silkie... and put the rest out?

This is Zoe.
She's a real pipsqueak. Not too happy having her picture taken and was singing the blues here.

This is Lucy, the Buff Orpington. She only has a few down puffs to blow on her neck. All born the same day!

(Curious why these pictures posted just fine, but when I tried to do the exact same thing on my page, nothing worked.)