At what age can I take them outside for playtime?

[Quailer21]

I have two 6 day old chicks and I was wondering when I can take them outside to run around for 10 minutes or so?

 

[PoultryProduce]

At around two weeks you can begin to take them outside for small time intervals. I wouldn't recommend you moving them outside without a heat lamp until they are about 5-7 weeks old. Just a little bit of advice!

 

[Judy]

I disagree. There are many approaches to chicken keeping, most of which work just fine. In the old days, chicks were raised in barns and sheds, never houses. I won't raise chicks in the house. At 3 weeks, my last batch were sleeping as far from their single heat lamp as they could get,, about 3', so I turned it off, with nighttime lows around 40. Also, the line between warm enough and too hot is very small. With small brooders in houses and strong heat sources, I feel we are much more likely to cook our chicks than let them get too cold.

I would start taking them out now for short periods, think about greatly reducing or even turning off the heat, and get them outdoors by about 4 weeks. It's mostly a matter of what they are acclimated to. Chickens are much hardier than we think. They are quite fragile when they first arrive, at a couple of days old, having been handled by the post office for a day or two. They do require careful attention for the first few days after that. At that point, you can start weaning the heat, letting them have some time on the ground, and start planning for their move outdoors. I have watched broody raised chicks running around outdoors in windy 40 degree weather with no heat source but the mama. Granted, they ran under her often, but they also left her and explored, a lot.

Read this, written by a well experienced chicken keeper:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/163417/please-show-me-your-hot-weather-coops/0_20

 

[PoultryProduce]

Where I live, it can get pretty cold (not too cold, but, still, cold) and I never want to take any chances with them. I only say this because I have lost many chicks to this and I am afraid to chance anyone else's chick.