Baby chicks outside

[Maggielovespickles]

Hi,
We are interested in adding a new colored-egg-laying chick to our flock of 3 hens but we would rather not raise the chick indoors (freshly refinished basement is no longer chick-friendly). We were wondering if it was possible to raise them outside near our other hens in a mini coop with some sort of heat. We have a lamp and a heating pad. Any advice you have is greatly appreciated. The chick will be about 1 week old and the temperatures are ranging from 20 to 30 degrees Celsius here. Should we be concerned about the chick being lonely if we put the mini coop in with the other hens and will our other 3 hens reject the new baby?

 

[FrostRanger]

Yes, you can brood outside in a outdoor brooder as long as you can ensure your chicks and the brooder stay dry and the extension cord is rated for outdoor use and used appropriately. Unless you have a broody hen they will almost certainly not adopt any chicks you give them and may try and kill them. I would also not raise a single chick, I'd raise at least 3 as while being near the adults will help with the chick's loneliness, hens won't usually fully accept pullets until they're around laying age. Sure, they'll be civil long before then especially since you'll be starting the integration process day one (the see but no touch step) but they probably won't exactly be friends with her and will likely chase her off if she gets too close. She'll do much better with a friend or 2 her own age

 

[rosemarythyme]

Yes you can brood outdoors from the get go and your temperatures are very conducive to that right now. However it's a bad idea to brood only 1 chick, as they will not be accepted by the main flock until they reach point of lay. 2 or 3 would be much better so they have a hatchmate.

As far as setting up for outdoor brooding, I use a mama heating pad set up, and brooding outdoors also allows me to get a jump on integration so I can add the chicks to the flock as early as possible. Hopefully my article will give you some ideas of how to set up: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/short-on-time-recycle-a-prefab-brooder.73985/