Hmm.. I have a grow out pen that I move mine out into. It's somewhat enclosed, with low perches and I cover the floor with shavings, but it's like twice the size of the brooder and opens up to the yard they will venture out into after a couple weeks. The pen has a walled up corner that protects them from the weather. That's how I usually do it. If you just toss them out there they will just huddle in a corner for awhile, but graduating from brooder, to pen, and then to yard, then adjust more easily.
Yes I've pickled them. I like them better as a spicy pickle! No one else in the family cares for them pickled except me so I don't make them very often.@Sill Since you have quail, do you ever pickle the eggs from them? I ate a whole jar by myself before in one sitting when I was in Louisiana.
My sister breeds high production dwarf Nigerian goats in Rio Verde AZ. Google Rio Verde Udders. They are excellent milkers. It's interesting that hers can tolerate our heat well as most of her stock originated in this area, but last fall when she got three new ones from New Jersey for outcross bloodlines they really were suffering during their first summer and they have thicker coats that she has to clip. You might want to consider obtaining your goats from a similar climate to where you will be living as the bloodlines will acclimate to the local climate.
Never pay nursery prices for fruiting mulberries, they are a rip of! They are super easy to grow from cuttings, and since they are such a fast growing tree you will get a good sized shade tree that produces delicious fruit quickly. I have Everbearing Dwarf, Oscar, White Persian, Pakistan, and Shangri La mulberry. Some I started from sticks, some I grafted onto seedling rootstock. They all have delicious fruit and the leaves are high in calcium and make good animal fodder. Except for the Everbearing Dwarf mulberry mine are currently in pots since I'm planing on moving in the near future. They do much better planted in the ground! Most of mine I got at the AZ Rare Fruit Growers annual scion/cutting exchange for free!
Like others have said, it depends on how you've acclimated them. It also depends on how feathered out they are. I have some chicks that are almost fully feathered at 4-5 weeks. Others may take 6-8 weeks to get the same degree of feathering. (Same breed. Different genetics.)
I would give them another week or two considering how cold it's been at night. Maybe provide them with a dog crate or some type of little shelter they could go in if we get wind or rain. Other than that, they should be ready for the great outdoors.
