brooder in coop or indoors?

[rowenaluth]

Our chicks will arrive end of April. I live in blythe,ca near the az border. It is already in the high 90s.should we put our brooder indoors or would it be ok to keep in the coop since it's already hot? We could use a heat lamp at night. These will be our first time having chickens. Although I did grow up with chickens..
thanks

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Outside. I always brood outside (with a heat emitter) unless it is below freezing for day olds.
A hen doesn't warm all ambient air, she provides a warm spot and the rest of the space is cool.
There's a thread started by a guy that had a broody hatch chicks in Michigan this winter with below zero temps.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/947046/broody-in-michigan-winter

Oh and

 

[rowenaluth]

Ok. Thanks. We will be keep8ng them in a large refrigerator box. So it will be kept in our run With heating.. when is it ok to let them out to explore?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I try to replicate nature. A hen would take them out to explore when the last chick hatches.
Depending on the weather, I usually open the door to the brooder house at about 3 weeks. Some groups come right out, others are 'chicken' and stay indoors much longer.
I open the door and let them choose.

 

[rowenaluth]

Ok cool. Thank you so much! I love byc this site is going to help a lot!

 

[Blooie]

Mine have been living outside since 11 of them were one week old and the other 4 we added were one day old. Our temps had been trying to reach 40 during the day and in the 20s at night. They aren't in a box brooder of any kind, just an open pen, and I don't have a heat lamp out there. They aren't even in the coop - they are in the run. As ChickenCanoe said, replicating nature is best, and there's no point heating the air all around them when they only need heat to "warm up" and for sleeping. I'm using a "cave" with heating pad. They are thriving - they're now 4 weeks and 3 weeks old, and they are strong, healthy, curious and active. They've been in charge of their comfort, and they know what they need far better than I do most of the time. For the past few nights, many of them aren't even using the heating pad cave anymore - I've seen the 4 weekers sleeping around the pad and sleeping on the roost. I'm not worried about fire, I'm not fussing all the time, and as a result they are very calm chicks. They are exploring their surroundings constantly, and we let them out of the pen into the run, as well as outdoors, with the big chickens. I'm thrilled with this method! If they get chilly they run into the cave for a few minutes. They climb on top of it like they would a broody hen, napping and tussling around.

I started a thread for this. If you type Mama Heating Pad in the Brooder into the search box, there is a ton of information and so many people have chimed in such great additions and ideas. It's certainly worth looking into. There are videos there of The Littles' weekly progress as well. If it works this well in Northern Wyoming will sure work in your area where overheating is as big a threat as chilling.

Edited to add the link to the thread

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/956958/mama-heating-pad-in-the-brooder-picture-heavy-update

 

[firesprink]

I'm outside of Seattle and since its summer temps have been pretty warm. We have a couple day olds, now almost a week. We've been keeping them in a little Rubbermaid box with bedding and a heat lamp, indoors. My husband wands to keep them outside but we have a lot of predators including raccoons who are stealing our strawberries already. My concern is more for their safety as small as they are. Should I just chance it and move their brooder outside to their coop?

 

[rowenaluth]

I'm outside of Seattle and since its summer temps have been pretty warm. We have a couple day olds, now almost a week. We've been keeping them in a little Rubbermaid box with bedding and a heat lamp, indoors. My husband wands to keep them outside but we have a lot of predators including raccoons who are stealing our strawberries already. My concern is more for their safety as small as they are. Should I just chance it and move their brooder outside to their coop?

How secure is the coop? If there's any chance of them getting out or predators getting in, I'd keep them inside... If it's secure as fort Knox then I'd put them out..

 

[firesprink]

Thanks for responding. We kept them indoors for a total of 4weeks and now assume they were probably at least a week old when we picked them up. Now they're pretty fat and happy girls in their little coop outside. Hubby wasn't the biggest fan of having them in the house as they started getting bigger and really started making a mess. When they were escaping the brooder regularly, we figured it was time to move them out. They've done really well outside and have yet to see any evidence of preditors.

We just picked up two more itty bitties. Hard to believe our girls were that tiny too

 

[barkinghills]

Now you're hooked, hehe! This is how it starts.

Have fun with your babies.