Age that Babies can go outside?

[BarredBuff]

8 weeks should be fine......

 

[juliaronan]

Proud to announce, thanks to your information and encouragement, that the baby girls spent their first night out last night at 7 weeks old. The low last night was 31 F, and of course I was up and down all night looking in on them. I did leave a heat lamp on for them to get under, as they had never been exposed to this kind of cold. They huddled together, under it in their box full of shavings, when they did sleep, but ran around and played most of the night! Like little girls at a slumber party! They reall didn't seem to mind the cold at all. It went really well!! Thanks again, all for your helpful posts!!
Julia

 

[Eddy Chicken]

Told ya! lol...mine are 5 weeks old tomorrow and have spent their first week outside. Temps in the mid 20's the last 2 nights. I still leave the heatlamp on but they spend most of the day running around outside.

 

[snipercp]

Quote:
i second that

X3

 

[txchickie]

My new chicks have been out in the coop since they were 4.5 weeks old. They had one heat lamp, but the temps have been down to 1-2 degreesF with negative windchills, snow, ice, sleet, etc...they were fine. I checked on them constantly and they never seemed bothered. I would even catch a few of them laying on their side stretched out with their wing held up "sunning" under the heat lamp

But they were all over the place, they didn't stay under the lamp for long. It got down to about 20 F in the coop at night and they didn't seem stressed at all. I did stack straw bales on the north and east sides of the coop because it is uninsulated. There are NO drafts.

They're 8 weeks old now and I took away the heat lamp yesterday. It's supposed to be about 36F for the high today and down to about 20 for the low. Yesterday was about the same and again, no problems.

This group of chicks did seem to feather out very quickly though. I would have considered them "fully feathered" at about 4.5 weeks, which was unusual for me (in my experience anyway). I hand inspected every one of them before I put them out and they had a good layer of down under their "outer" feathers and their heads (which seem to be the last to feather out) were 100% feathered too.

 

[SouthernBYChickens]

Quote:
Julia - I'm kind of in the same situation as you. I am in Alabama so our temperatures are no doubt, around the same. Our chicks will be 4 weeks old this Wednesday and they seem to have plenty of feathers right now. I have them in my garage with a heat lamp. From what I've read from the other posts, it will be okay for us to move them outside soon. I think I will turn the heat-lamp off as well with the next few days/nights to get them acclimated to the temps. As my wife's 92 year-old grandmother said once, "she has never heard of a chicken freezing to death".

 

[juliaronan]

Hi Southern By Chickens,
Yes it does sound like we are in a similar climate. We are pretty much right in the middle of the state over here. So far the lows haven't een much below freezing and are only satying that cold aout an hour out of the night. I bought a weather center thermometer that is wireless (about $14 at TS) that lets me put the sensor in with the chicks and read it from inside the house. And I am a sucker...I left the heat lamp for mine. I did order a handy dandy thermostat to plug it into, so that it will turn on and off. I just did not like the idea of it running all night. It is called an R-Zilla 1000 watt ($28)(found it on the web. It is designed for reptile cages). It will let you plug heat lamps into it, then you plug it into an extension cord, and run the temp. probe near to the heat lamp. When the heat lamp reaches the temp that you set, it cuts on or off accordingly. The girls seem completely fine, but as they had been in the basement, at 70 degrees, I just could not see pitching them out into the cold; mommy guilt! They are growing so quickly and seem very happy and perky! As this is my first go-round with chickens, I am thrilled to see them healthy and chirpy! Keep in touch and let me know how yours are doing!
Julia

 

[jessicayarno]

Quote:
I would personally keep a heat lamp on them if it's going to be that cold, my babies with their mama would still climb under her to warm up at that age, so obviously they still need some warmth and can't regulate their body temps in the colder weather... JMO

 

[littleluciex]

After reading this post Im starting to think maybe mine have been babied. I moved them outside this last weekend at 3 weeks old with a heat lamp and a blanket to cover at night and the lowest its gotten is 45 here in florida. Now at four weeks they are all feathered except for a little down on the head. Im thing perhaps the blanket can go, they seem to like it when I raise it in the morning, and sometimes the wind will blow it down during the day. I will remove the blanket this week and the heat lamp in 2 weeks, what do you think?

 

[Dirtyhip]

I think we moved ours out at about 7 weeks, with a heat lamp in the coop. We are at 15 weeks now and no heat. It was 10F yesterday. The hens are thriving. The first few weeks, they were on lock down in the coop.

You could tell when they were ready to be off the heat. They tend to not huddle near it.