are my 8-1/2 week old chicks too young to go outside?

[joyful-homemaker]

It is 50 to 60 degrees outside durring the day and 28-32 degrees at nite right now. I have heat lamps for the coup and plastic over the door and windows (with a small gap at the bottom for ventilation). I will also be filling the coup with straw.
I am also worried about when to put out my bantams. they are 7-1/2 weeks old but so tiny. Any suggestions would be apreciated.
Thanks!!!

 

[Country Gal]

Are they fully feathered? My philosophy is that once they are fully feathered, outside they go (unless it's summer, then I might move them before being "fully" feathered)...

 

[joyful-homemaker]

they are (all but one mystery chick) fully feathered. I forgot to mention that they will be joining a 2yr old hen and her 4-1/2 month old "baby".

 

[pbjmaker]

I think they will be fine - especially since you have a heat lamp in the coop. We have about the same temps here and my Bantam frizzle cochins and showgirl have been living in the coop since they were 5 weeks old with no heat. (It was still warm out then) They are now almost 10 weeks and doin' just great.

 

[joyful-homemaker]

I think I will give it a try. Should I move the brooder out and let them roam the coup and run durring the day and put them back into the brooder at nite, or should I just let them sleep enclosed in the run with the lamps on?
Also I think I will need to remove mama and "baby" because I just took two of my biggest chicks out and they ran to attack them several times. These two are beside the big girl coup with the hens mama grew up with till her baby hatched. They are only seperated by some chicken wire from the other hens, but tend to fight sometimes thru the wire. Can I move them over or do I need to hurry up and build another coup?

 

[cjstanman]

I booted mine outside at about 7 weeks. They are 9.5 weeks old now. We're in central NC and it's about 35 at night, 60ish during the day. At first I didn't even put a heat lamp out there, but it's starting to dip a little lower at night now, so I have an 85W red flood light in there (not a true 250W heat lamp). They are doing just fine.

 

[BawkinOnTheBench]

Mine are 9 weeks - we live in Utah - yesterday it was only in the 40's with a brisk wind and they were happily running around the yard, so I think they are tougher than I thought they were. I have a 50 W IR in their coop at night, and I'm tapering down the times that it is on as they get older. It hit 30 last night and their coop never went below 56. I do still have the big 250 W heat lamp in their little run, and their run is enclosed in plastic; I turn it on on really cold mornings like today.

 

[joyful-homemaker]

They are going out in the morning) I have moved mama and baby to the big coup. I had apple peels and cores to throw out from canning apple sauce and two pumpkins that had seen better days so I threw them out for distraction while I made the move. There is a little pecking and fussing going on here and there but nothing too bad.
I will be cleaning the small coup tonite and putting in the lamps and straw. When I normally feed the brooder chicks in the morning, I will move them outside instead. I hope it all goes well. DH and I are glad to see them go out cause the garage is a stinky dusty mess!

from now on, I think I am going to hatch my own chicks with broody hens. I can always put day old chicks under my hens with their babies if I want some that mine cant produce.

 

[debilorrah]

Gosh ours have been in the hen house since they were 4 weeks old and we successfully integrated them with the rest of the flock 2 weeks ago. We sat outside last night watching them chest bump like men at a football game. They LOVE being outside!!! My older ones go to bed early to give the babies their outdoor time - they don't really co-mingle yet, but that is their choice!