Can I put my chicks out during the day?

[Czechski]

Question about chickies in the dark:
When their box was warm enough, and it was the early evening, I turned off their heat lamp, and it was pretty dark, but not pitch dark. They started yelling out in distress! Since they wouldn't stop crying out, I plugged the lamp back in and they stopped immediately. Is this normal? What about when I put them out in the coop over night? (They've had light 24/7 so far.
HELP!

 

[Mehjr10]

They will get used to it, turn it off and let them. The hard part is letting them. Good Luck.

 

[Murphy212]

Just read this entire thread....gives me comfort in moving them outside but I need some guidance please. I have 11 little ones almost 4 weeks old and about ready for them to go out....they need more space and the temps are warmer. My main question is how to do you move them in and out? I mean to take them from the brooder to the outdoors and then back? It seems to me that it would be like herding kittens....they just go where they want. How do you get them back? Do they just follow you or do you "call" them?
Guess you can tell I am a complete newbie at this...no experience with chickens at all.
I have a chicken tractor that I want to put them in for the day, but it is not really secure or warm enough for night long stays. I wonder how to get them out of the tractor for the night until I get the coop, fence, and run together.
Any ideas or information would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks so much
Murphy

 

[chickenmamact]

I have 5-6 week old chickens, too. I have been letting them sleep in their coop with a heat lamp at night and have a little "free time" outside their run if its warm in the afternoons. They don't wander far from their coop. However, yesterday, I went inside for a half hour max and when I cam back outside they were all missing. I found four out of five hidden in my yard. The fifth one was carried into the woods by a cat and she was injured, but she seems to be doing fine now. I am keeping her sequestered from the others for a couple of days (while her wounds heal). If anyone has any suggestions for how to treat her, they would be welcome (these are my first chicks). But I am posting this story so that you will keep a better eye on your girls than I did. I have a feeling I was very lucky. Once they get a little bigger I will let them short periods of free time alone again, but not right now because even though feathered, they are not very big.

 

[Whovian007]

Mine have been out since about 3 weeks. Grant it we are hitting 70+ nearly every day, but we have had some near freezing nights and I just turn on the heat lamp, they snuggle up for the night and are fine.

When you say out since 3 weeks do you mean outside but still enclosed, or what do you mean exactly? I'll be getting my baby chicks next week (first ones ever!) and I'm planning to keep them on the back porch with heat lamps and such until we're finished with the coop, but then what is the earliest you let them roam by themselves? When should they not be "enclosed" anymore?

 

[KimberlyK0509]

I have 11 8 week old chicks

that live outside and have been for the past 3 days and love it! No heat lamp, just a coop and run. I did buy a few solar powered garden lights and put one in the coop and a few in the run. I know, unnecessary but they are my babies and I wouldnt want to sleep in complete dark outside.

I also have 4 2 week old chicks and I was wondering how old they have to be to put them in the coop with the bigger girls?

 

[newburt]

I have ten plymouth Rock pullets purchased at tractor supply on march 21 so they are six weeks this week. They have been in an outdoor brooder since they were 3 weeks old. We have had several 35-39 degree nights since they were out there and I weaned them off the light but they are fully feathered and have been for a couple weeks. They are now on their second day in a chicken tractor and have already learned to drink from the nipple waterer that I made for them. As long as they are fully feathered they are capable of making it just fine. They will probably be better off than you are their first night LOL. They may start out huddling and may even continue to huddle for a while until they adjust to sleeping apart from one another. Good luck with your chickens!!!!!!

 

[newburt]

If you put your brooder outside (granted its predator proof) you will be getting them used to the environment and they will be more resilient chickens in the long run. This is the best part of the year to brood chickens outdoors. After the first week I put mine outdoors. I have 9 Rhode Island Red chicks and 9 Dominique chicks that are 2 weeks old and have been in an outdoor brooder with a heat lamp for a week. I have the lamp 36 inches above them and the space that they have to run is 3x5 and 36 inches tall. They are happy and healthy and they will self adjust to the temperature as long as you have enough room for them to get away from the lamp if they need to. Given plenty of room the chicks will go farther away from the lamp if they are too hot or closer to the lamp if they are too cold. Helps keep them from huddling so much. Good luck with your first chicks. I started this hobby for me and my children to have a few chickens and now we have 52. Its a fun hobby and very educational for all of us.


This is my outdoor brooder 3 weeks ago when my plymouth rock chicks were 3 weeks old.

 

[newburt]

I believe that chicks need to be at least 6 weeks old before they go into the coop with older ones mainly for their protection from the others and you want to make sure they are fully feathered, and at earlier ages they run the risk of getting wet and getting too cold. I think the dampness has more to do with them getting cold than the temperature alone. I have read on here where people put them in the coop at 3 weeks old but thats probably not mixed age groups. There is a very considerable size difference in your 8 week and 3 week old chicks and you dont want your little ones getting trampled or picked on.

 

[newburt]

It is fairly simple to build a small pen with a frame about 4x6 or so with just some poultry netting (chicken wire) around the sides and top. Once you have done this you can flip it over to where the top is on the bottom and just put your chickens in it and slowly flip it over. When you get ready to put them back in you can put a piece of plywood about half the height of the pen on each side and prop it on the side of the pen and get on one side of the pen and begin to flip the pen back over. the chickens will all run to the opposite side of the pen that you are on and begin to try to climb the side of the pen and you just flip it back over and they are all inside the upside down pen again and you just reach in and get them and do whatever you want with them for the night.