Can our 3 week old go outside for the day now?

[Mommysongbird]

Our babies are 3 weeks old yesterday and I would like to take them outside (in their crate) for a few hours at a time, is this okay or should I wait?

 

[Mommysongbird]

Anyone???

It is nice here today, for a while anyway. It is a bit windy but not a cold wind

 

[crazy4chix]

I built a little pen out of chicken wire and a few stakes and let them run around on the ground for a little while every day. Put some water and their food in there with them. I never leave them out there alone. You never know when a cat or hawk will drop by for a bite! If it is around 70 degrees, they should be OK. If you see signs they are cold, take them in.

 

[Mommysongbird]

Quote:
Ours are already in a wire dog crate that my son and I can just carry outside and there is a top on it of course but I was planning on putting a piece of chicken wire over the top for outside time. It is probably near 70 today and they won't be out there alone.

Thanks

 

[imthedude]

yes. they can go outside. what is your definition of "nice?" if it's windy and even a bit chilly, i wouldn't leave them out long.

 

[Mommysongbird]

Quote:
It is a bit windy, not too bad but I don't think they would be in direct wind, they would be in front of our house on the sidewalk. I was not planning on leaving them out long, maybe 1/2 hour or less.

 

[Judy]

They should be fine, even for longer than that, and will love it, and benefit from the normal activity available (pecking your lawn.)

If they get cold you will be able to tell. At 3 weeks they should have plenty of feathers to be able to tolerate some breeze. You could, just to be sure, set something out there that they could use as a windbreak if they wanted -- maybe a laundry basket on its side, for example.

 

[Farmer_Dan]

Let them in the yard, they'll play and love it!

Just watch them and if they start moving slowly or huddle together or shivver, make sure to get them back into the light.

 

[koakritters]

my 3 week olds have been outside all day from about 10am until 8pm or so this week, it's been in the high 70s suppose to be higher the next couple of days. It's not until the very end that they are cold, but i figure a couple min of being cold gets them used to being outside more and will toughen them up! plus then they get to come back inside, 2 min under their heat lamp and they are up and running around their pen full speed the rest of the night...

my 6 week olds have been outside 24 hrs a day since they were 4 weeks. i love the warmer weather!

 

[Mommysongbird]

I will try for tomorrow. They won't be getting out of the crate, can't trust that they won't end up in the road. I do have some green fence that we used for our goat pen, guess I could set that up around the crate.