Chicks and the Great Outdoors

[chickenwhisperer]

Ive only had my chicks for a few days now, and i assume they are at least a week old, as they arrived at the store on the 9th.

I would like to bring them out to my tractor this weekend, because 20 chicks are quickly outgrowing the brooder.

Is this too young to bring them out into the yard and give access to forage such as grasses, weeds, acorns, leaves, etc . . ?

I can put the brood lamp in the henhouse and the tractor is setup so that they can be blocked from going out into the run.

But the bottom line is that these are chickens we are talking about, they have been outside for thousands of years, right?

Should I switch to medicated feed, should I add stuff to the water, or will they probably be fine, as I suspect they will be?

Thanks for any advice!

 

[chicknjane]

I think you need to consider temperatures for your area. Young chicks can't tolerate the cold weather as well as adult chickens. I understand what you are saying though, they grow fast and its gets crowded quick.

My first two batches of chicks I got in the spring and summer and it was warm enough for me to let them out in the yard. They were all outside from day one. I have one batch that I got toward the end of October who have yet to be outside because I felt it was too cold for them. They did get kicked out of the house at 4 weeks old and into an uninsulated coop the last week of November. Temps weren't as cold as they are now though. I was worried because they weren't fully feathered. I gave them a heat lamp and they did survived.

As for medicated feed, I gave my first two batches of chicks medicated feed for the first 8 weeks. The third batch of chicks never got medicated feed and they are just as healthy as the older groups. No problems to this point and they are just getting to the point where they should start laying.

Just use your best judgment and you can't go wrong.

Marcy

 

[chickenwhisperer]

The weather here is improving every day, they said El Nino was sposed to dump on us thru March, but I dont think its gonna happen . . .
The days are bright and warm and the nights not so chilly anymore here in sunny California!
If the cold stays around too long here, the Govenator gets ticked and kicks its butt!

I think Ill use the weekend as a trial-run, as I will be around to monitor things, especially dog interest.

 

[TeriNick50]

June 2009:
I put my girls out on Day #3 for fresh air, sun and foraging for several hours per day but brought them back inside the garage at night.
They were given medicated feed.

July 2009:
They went into the coop and run permanently.

November 2009:
Girls graduated to regular feed.