Chicks seem incredibly ready to move to the coop - only 3 weeks!

[jdleston]

Hi Everyone! I am reading a lot about this and I am seeing many different answers. So, apologies for re-asking the questions but this is my first time as a chick mama. I live in the Chicagoland area. Temps have been pretty crazy this summer. It was 90 two days ago and it is going to be 77 today. I have been keeping my 4 chicks in an empty room for the past 3 weeks and I am fine having them there. But since it has been nicer lately, I have been taking them to their outside run to check it out. It seems like they are having so much fun out there: running around, stretching out their wings, climbing the branches, finding the grass poking through the shavings, chasing around bugs (they don't actually eat them), digging in the dirt... I know it is too early for them to be without a heat lamp, but if I coral them into their hen house at night, shut the door and provide them with their heat, is it ok to keep them outside? Or, should I just let them play outside during the day and keep bringing them in at night for another couple weeks?

They are getting pretty restless inside it seems.

Thank you!

 

[BayBay Peepers]

I think as long as you provide heat at night they should be fine. I have two week old chicks outside with their mama, but they haven't been going under her until the sun goes down. Congrats on your first chicks

 

[BayBay Peepers]

Welcome to BYC by the way

 

[jdleston]

Funny, I just went to check on them and all four had become escape artists Outside it is! Thanks!

 

[RJSorensen]

Yes, as noted above, if you keep an eye on them, and provide a heat source for the evening temps you should be fine to move them. Please make sure your heat source is secure, heat lamps and shavings make for a dangerous situation. My red heat lamps are never closer than 18 inches to the shavings. They can and will self regulate from this height.

Since you are a week or so early, make sure to not chill them, if you turn the heat off during the day, ensure that you turn the heat on early enough in the evening to get the area warm and that they can find it. No drafts still apply, so make sure that the wind or whatever does not affect your new brooding area. You may have to close windows, doors, etc.

Just look at them and attend to their needs and you will be fine.

RJ

 

[graciegoat]

I have a very similar situation. We live just south of Chicagoland and we have 9 chicks that turned 4 weeks today. They have been outside a few times, and just like yours, they love it. We are aiming for putting them outside next weekend as we still have a little work to do on the coop/run. My question is, how old do they have to be to go without a heat lamp at night if they are closed up in the coop? It looks like some nights will be down in the 50s coming up.

 

[islandgirl82]

I grew up off the grid and had my first poultry experience when I was little but don't remember much about them

A few years ago I decided to get some ducklings and chicks while still living off the grid. Not having electricity meant not having a heat lamp...at all. So, I used hot water bottles instead. I got the ducklings as day olds and kept them in a pet carrier until they outgrew it (about a week), then moved them to a whelping box (built for a foster newfoundland and her puppies) and that worked really well for the ducklings. I would bring them out into the sunshine during the days because it was much warmer outside than it was in my house and would put the water bottles in the whelping box in my kitchen with them at night. I can tell you that all eight of my ducklings survived to adulthood without any illness. When they were big enough to get in and out of the box on their own, I moved them out to the barn. That was when they were between 7 and 8 weeks old.

My chicks was a slightly different story. I didn't keep them with the ducks initially because they came from different places so I kept them quarantined in the beginning by keeping the 2 week old pullets in the same pet carrier I started the ducklings in. They stayed in that for about 2 weeks until the temperature warmed up outside and they had feathered out a bit more. Then I moved them out to the starter coop. All 4 of them survived to adulthood.

I had to improvise given the circumstances but I can say that I never lost a single bird due to illness, only predators.

This spring, I had a solitary egg that I brought to my son's class to hatch out in an incubator and for the first week, our chick, along with chicks that hatched from another chicken enthusiast's eggs were in a brooder but when we brought our chick home (along with one of the other chicks that hatched), I again didn't have the means to run a brooder so we improvised to keep them warm. They are and have always been very lively and at 3 weeks (after they made an escape from their tote) I started bringing them out during the day and keeping them in that same old carrier at night. They're about 7 weeks old now and doing incredibly well. When I first started bringing them out, it was only during the hot, sunny days...never below 70 degrees. Now that they're older, I provide them with cover from rain and sun but they go out every day, all day and into the crate at night. The only reason I'm not putting them in the coop at night now is because I don't trust one of my hens with them as they're so much smaller and she's been a bit of a bully with my POL pullets.

 

[jdleston]

Once they have their feathers to keep them warm, I think they will be ok, from what I have seen. It is before they get their feathers that we have to be most concerned with.

So, mine did sleep outside last night in their top hen box with the nesting boxes closed off (I heard to keep them out of their until they are ready to lay so that they won't sleep/poop in there.) I checked on them a couple times because it was pretty chilly - in the 50's last night. Even with the heat lamp on high, it got down to about 78 at the coolest. But they are fine (My understanding is 5 degrees of 95 for every week old they are. So, 3 weeks old they are cool at 85. However, from watching my chicks, they seem to like it best at like 80 degrees right now.)

 

[sssharon]

I put my chicks out at 3 weeks and they loved it outside from the start. It's funny how you can tell when they want to be set free.