Brooder in Coop, when can I let them run free?

[tburg]

I'm new to having chicks and have lots of questions!!! My biggest question right now is about our brooder. Since we do not have any other chickens we built a brooder house in the corner of the coop with everything they need; heat lamp, water, food, pine shavings. My question is when can I take the brooder house down and let them roam free in the coop? They are 2-3 weeks right now. At night, will they know to sleep by the heat lamp to keep them warm? During the day our temps are 65-80 but at night it drops down to 45-50. I should also let you know that our coop is huge! My husband's grandpa built it for his grandma....very spoiled Thanks for your help!!

 

[farnorth]

I'm new to having chicks and have lots of questions!!! My biggest question right now is about our brooder. Since we do not have any other chickens we built a brooder house in the corner of the coop with everything they need; heat lamp, water, food, pine shavings. My question is when can I take the brooder house down and let them roam free in the coop? They are 2-3 weeks right now. At night, will they know to sleep by the heat lamp to keep them warm? During the day our temps are 65-80 but at night it drops down to 45-50. I should also let you know that our coop is huge! My husband's grandpa built it for his grandma....very spoiled Thanks for your help!!

I have a brooder in my coop too. Is yours low enough they can hop up to it?

I just open the door once I think they can hop back into the brooder.

So, Yes, if they can reach it and they are cold they will go back to the light to stay warm.

Mine jump in and out of the brooder to eat, sleep etc. but it's only about 18 inches off the ground and I put a stool that is about half that height to they can use it as a step to jump up to.

Mine loved having more room and emediately they start running around like crazy chasing each other....but come dusk they are all back up in the brooder under the light. Mine are just a little older than yours and I just started a couple days ago. Of course mine did also have a broody for a momma but she took off and left them to fend for themselves now.

 

[tburg]

Thanks for the reply. How old are yours? My brooder does not have a door so I would have to take down the entire thing and just let them roam free. We have about 26 chicks that were hatched in classrooms, 4 of them came from my classroom Do you think it's too early....maybe I should wait another week or so.

 

[ChickenLove6]

You can let them out of the brooder to roam around in the day for a few hours but keep an eye in them and if they huddle together put them back in the brooder. Chicks are usually good at finding the heat but I'm not sure how big their coop is so it may be a little harder for them to know where to get warm if it is big. At night put them back in the brooder though. At 6-8 weeks they should be old enough to go out into the coop and when they are fully feathered you wont need to put them back in at night.

 

[farnorth]

Thanks for the reply. How old are yours? My brooder does not have a door so I would have to take down the entire thing and just let them roam free. We have about 26 chicks that were hatched in classrooms, 4 of them came from my classroom Do you think it's too early....maybe I should wait another week or so.

Mine are 3, 3 1/2 and 4 weeks old.

You could certainly wait another week or more.

26 is quite a few are they getting crowded at all?

If, so you could instead partition off a portion of your coop and hang a brooder light over it if they are needing more room.

 

[seann]

tburg: Sorry I just notice your picture. Is that newspaper on your brooder? Anything else underneath? If not you might want to reconsider as it can cause splayed/spraddled legs.

 

[tburg]

Thats actually what are did to begin with. We actually have 26 chicks that we are keeping to lay eggs. Of coarse many of them will end up being roosters. Then we have another section blocked off with jumbo cornish rocks. I separated them because I read that the Cornish Rocks shouldn't be given food 24/7 because they will over eat. DO you have any knowledge about them? I know a whole different topic!!!!

 

[tburg]

I only had newspaper in there for the first day then put pine shavings because I read about splayed legs!! Thanks for the tip though! This is actually just a swimming pool that I had them in while they were still in my classroom. Now they are in the chicken coop with a section partitioned off for a brooder.

 

[tburg]

Thanks, I think I'll wait a week or two than just play it by ear. I'll let them out and watch them and see how they react just like you mentioned. This whole new chicken owner stuff is stressful!! There is much more to raising chickens than I realized! Thanks for the tips!

 

[Gracedby3]

We have been using puppy pee pads. Is that as bad as newspaper? We just purchased a dog crate to move them to and have already purchased pine shavings for it. Won't have time until tomorrow to transfer them.