Chicks are 6 weeks, outside time?

[downsfarm]

I just looked into the wool hen -- we can easily make them one of those. I'm worried about the lamp, mostly because we'd have to run really long extension cords to the hill to do it. And yes, it is awful dealing w/the chicken dust!

 

[Folly's place]

So don't do the extension cords!
Do you have issues with frozen waterers?
Mary

 

[downsfarm]

We have solar heated dog bowls - I work from home too so I'll be able to keep an eye on their waterers.

 

[NoNameHomestead]

Put them out during the day and bring them at night? When my chicks were around 4 weeks I started taking them out everyday increasing their time each time until I felt comfortable leaving them out there. I personally think they will be fine, but it’s your decision

 

[lazy gardener]

 

[SonoranChick]

Nice job raising all 15 chickies successfully! They should be okay but I like the idea of a wool hen. Mine were inside (spare room in a giant canvas puppy corral) until week 6 too. The dust was insane. Reclaim your bathroom and have fun with your babies outside Good luck

 

[Hamiam]

I would love to see pics of your babies! (Make sure to add your location to your profile & a profile pic for your avatar.)

 

[downsfarm]

I really didn't expect all 15 I got to live....first time chicken mama, but I'm really glad they all made it to this point! Will post pics of them later, thanks for the help everyone.

 

[Blooie]

I'm way more heartless than the others! By the time mine were 5.5 weeks old it was them or me...and I was bigger! So on a halfway sunny day, April 1st in fact, out they went! I did put a heat lamp <shudder, did I just say that?>, and a wireless thermometer out there. That night I watched the temperature drop....25, then down to 18. I kept getting up to check on them. The little stinkers were nowhere near the heat lamp. They were snuggled beak to tail on the floor in front of the pop door. I don't even know how many times I got up, bundled up, and went out there that night. I went out in the morning dreading what I might see, and they were all bouncing around, eating, drinking, and wanting their pop door opened.

Next night, same story, except I only got up once. The third day I took out the heat lamp. If they weren't going to use it, I wasn't going to risk it - and that night it snowed. In fact, we got our last snowfall that year on June 6th. If I'd waited until it was "warm enough", they would been darn close laying eggs in the brooder! You've already started weaning yours off heat - I did the same thing that @lazy gardener has suggested and opened a window in the small office room their brooder was in during the day. Huddle boxes are also a good idea, but you usually have to "teach" them to go into it.

If they've never been out there before, expect some behavior quirks. No chicken, old or young, likes change. They'll sit in a corner, huddled together and fuss like crazy until one or two get brave and break out of the pack to explore a bit. Huddling is done just as much for security as it is for warmth. And with no electricity out there, be prepared for a royal temper tantrum - x15 in your case - when the sun goes down. "Mom, there's stuff in here" "Mom, it's dark" "Mom, he's touching me!" "Mom, I want a drink of water"! Yeah, like that! You're already of the game since you've turned off the heat lamp....the dark won't scare them quite as badly but combine the dark with a new environment and there is bound to be some protest from them!

If I had to do it over again, I would have done a better job of acclimating them. In my case it worked out just fine. I had to harden myself to the notion that these little Divas who had taken over my hearth and home were chickens. And then I spent two weeks cleaning dust, thinking I was done, then finding more dust. <sigh> So glad I was attacked by the blinding light of common sense and brooded all subsequent chicks outside from the start! You've got this!

 

[SueT]

This is a rare warming up for Missouri, it feels like spring, I know it won't last but there are no teens or single digits in the next week.....I'd go for it myself if I had 15 6-wk old chickens in my bathroom and especially if I was 5 months pregnant!