Can my chicks live outside?

[love2grinchicke]

I am hatching eggs in an incubator, and want to build a home for chicks outside. Could they survive outside with a heat lamp from day one? We had an idea about putting plexi-glass on the front, so we could observe them. Would that be fine for them?

 

[KrisH]

If a hen were hatching them I'd say yes, but I would not be comfortable without "adult supervision. it's getting cold and they need to start out at about 95 degrees without drafts.

I vote NO

RobertH

 

[love2grinchicke]

what if I put a wooden cover for the plexi glass? Would that make it safer, and still let me look at my chicks?

 

[DonnerSurvivor]

what if I put a wooden cover for the plexi glass? Would that make it safer, and still let me look at my chicks?

Ventilation is very important especially after the first week. You want a draft free but well ventilated brooder, for the first week it is important to keep the brooder at 90-95 degrees so if you can achieve this outdoors I dont see why you couldnt do it.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I do it all the time but as the others have said. The housing needs to be chicken appropriate.
I use one of the coops (repurposed garden shed) as the brooder house and if I have enough chicks they go out from day one. 1 to 5 chicks are just as easy the first week in a tub indoors.

Here are some of my setups.

 

[Nevaschickens]

I've never incubated but, when it comes to them being hatchted I say yes. My chicks were on our back porch were we could see them when we were in the living room. They were housed in a old guinea pig cage/rabbit cage. We had a brooder lamp right on top. Of course food and water were provided. We also had some branches in there for them to roost on. Which they loved. This was during the summer months when it wasn't cold. e

Good luck,
Jeneva

 

[love2grinchicke]

okay, so I have raised chicks from three days old, but they were always inside. However, after the first week or so, they get really stinky. Could they survive after one and a half weeks inside?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Not just stinky but a LOT of dust generated.
You still have to provide a heat source so it really doesn't matter if they went outside after 1 day or 2 weeks.
Providing a hot spot and lots of cool space is the same way a hen broods them.
The second picture in my above post was in the dead of winter.

This was the outside that day.

 

[love2grinchicke]

thanks!!!!

 

[donrae]

I never brood chicks in the house. Ever.

Mine are in an unheated barn, in a galvanized steel livestock trough. Heat lamp at one end, food and water at the other end. No drafts, no wet, they're protected from the weather but yeah the cool end gets pretty cool. No different than a broody raised chick being out from under momma during the day.

And to clarify--posts above state the brooder needs to be 95 degrees and this is inaccurate. AN AREA of the brooder needs to be this temp, not the entire brooder. chicks need to have a cool area of whatever the ambient temp is, they don't stay 95degrees all the time or they cook.