At what age is a good age to let them free roam?

[beegirl950]

It is raining and warm today. I opened up the gate into the big coop, and they all came out. But they are scared of the big hens so they are not exploring as expected.

 

[mcdze]

oh they'll hang around wherever home base is perceived .. i created a hardware cloth cage to use to get them used to the program before i just turn them out, THEN they need to know where they go up when it gets dark so they need their own place ideally ... i wired off one end of my coop and put its own door there .. so they started going into the hardware cloth cage in the back ofthe garage where the chickens hang out alot starting at just over 2 weeks, during the day, then back in the brooder box at night .. at about 3 they started getting weened off the box and put into the end of the coop and fed there then back to the box a few days .. now at 4 weeks they can come out but only when im home and its afternoon .. chickens are very smart .. from day 1 free roaming they put themselves up in the evening and come running when i walk over there with 'the cup' .. but yeah, they will hang right around home base and cover likely for another month at least before they start walking out with the flock across the yard, and even after that they will be relegated to low status on the pecking order and not allowed to be too close until they reach full maturity ..