Can I put my chicks out during the day?

[OhioTanya]

Thanks, everyone! It is going to be in the 60's on Saturday and low of 48 at night, so I think they are going in the coop for the first time overnight on Saturday. It is suppose to be at least 50 every night after Saturday for the rest of the week. I think they will be okay. If I am worried, I will put a heat lamp in the coop at night.

 

[CHICKEN CRAZY1]

Sure they can!

 

[randys]

I have 12 chicks 5 weeks and 5 days old. I put them in their coop yesterday, 60's during the day and 30's at night. They were happy with all the room of the coop. And I do use a heat lamp at night.

Randy

 

[RonC]

One thing to remember is to wean them from the heat lamp before just booting them into the world. Take the heat lamp away several days before moving them outside. If they are feathered they have down filled underwear on. Some breeds like silkies are more sensitive to temperature changes than most.

 

[Cluck it]

Our 6-7 week old girls have been out for about 2 weeks now but I built a coop that is insulated and we have a heat lamp going at night time for extra heat. I am thinking after this weekend I will take out the lamp. And they can huddle together if they need to. They are looking more like chickens than chicks lately. I am thinking they should be just fine and they are secured like fort Knox. I hope we seem to think we covered all bases when we built coop and run. Only time will tell
Good luck Tanya and all the rest of us newbies. May our flocks be happy and safe

 

[BScott03]

My husband sprayed our yard Sunday. About how long will it take for them to be okay to free range?

 

[CarmenB]

I'm new to this but, my husband bought some baby chicks, turkeys and two ducklings. The are getting big pretty quick and are currently in a cage my husband built for them. We are not sure how old they are, however, we are needing to know if they ate old enough to stay outside in the chicken coop. We live in North Central Florida and it has been in the 80's here and the nights have been in the upper 50's lately. Would they be ok to stay outside 24/7?

 

[king4]

I live in Ohio as well,just a little west of Dayton and my chicks are roughly the same age and they are permanantly out side and have been for about a week and a half. Its been down in the 30's and i check on them before i went to work and they are perfectly fine. I personally dont htink youll have any problem.

 

[gaitngirl]

I'm new to this but, my husband bought some baby chicks, turkeys and two ducklings. The are getting big pretty quick and are currently in a cage my husband built for them. We are not sure how old they are, however, we are needing to know if they ate old enough to stay outside in the chicken coop. We live in North Central Florida and it has been in the 80's here and the nights have been in the upper 50's lately. Would they be ok to stay outside 24/7?

How old are your chicks? If they are at least 3 weeks you should be okay with those kind of temps. You might have the opposite problem many of us northerners are having - you may have to make sure the chicks don't get too warm, lol.

 

[bolo]

For all that are worried about the "durability" of chicks and ducklings this is what we have done. Live in Colorado, day temps around 58 to 65, night temps down to 38 to 27. Our 30 chicks (meat and hens) were only 3 weeks old, two ducklings 4 weeks HAD to be put outside; both have an enclosed coop and duck house with heat lamps, but are let outside in the big pen during the day. Even at temps of 58, they all did great, thriving well. I still put them inside the coop and duck house at night but most importantly, let your chicks/ducklings "harden" up a bit during the day if the temps are still not real warm. We provide clumps of hay for them to nestle in during the day, but most of them are running around like crazy enjoying their full day of "recess"!!! Observe the behavior of your animals, they will tell you what they need. Hope this helps anyone who is dealing with cold temps and little children.