First post and my first time with chickens!

[Krisy624]

Hello!

I have 6 cute little 6-8 week old chicks. 4 are Rhode Island Red and the other 2 are either Golden comets or Cornish Hens. I had planned to wait and just order them offline so that they would be babies - but I saw them at TSC the other day and they were the breeds I wanted ( Rhode Island Red ). So, I caved and got them the other day. They don't know if they are 6 or 8 weeks old. I have no idea.

My question is - are they to young to go outside and enjoy the sunshine and grass? Its 82 degrees today with sunshine so I thought they might enjoy being outside. I have yet to build their coop so they won't be going outside preeminently for a little while longer. Are they okay to be eating grass and other treasures that they find in the grass? I can just put their box out there for now if they can't eat grass in their run.

Thanks so much!

 

[mississippifarmboy]

from Mississippi. If they are 6 - 8 weeks old they would love some outdoor time. Fresh air and playing in the grass would be great for them.

 

[Nicole01]

Welcome to the club of bringing home chicks before the coop is built.lol. We did the same thing 2 weeks ago and just started the coop yesterday.

. Congrats on the new babies.

 

[Krisy624]

Great! Thank you so much!

Yes, I had it all planned out in my head - order them offline and then it would be a month before they came in and still to small to go in a coop... so I was like okay! Great! 2 months to build one.. haha

 

[Tres Amigas]

Take them out supervised - they'll love it! Don't freak out when they lay down on their side and start flopping around - they're dustbathing!

 

[ivy bemmie bessie]

Welcome, I am pretty new too.

 

[lizch]

Welcome! I'm a new chicken owner too, with a similar story...went to feed store to gather supplies, with the plan to pick up chicks a week later from somewhere else, and to my surprise they had the breed I wanted--black australorps and rhode island reds. So I came home rather disorganized but happy as can be, with 5 australorps and 2 RIR.

My chicks are 5-6 weeks old now, and yesterday they free ranged on a bare garden bed for hours, while I worked on the vegetable garden. They were happy as could be, despite it only be in the low 50s here. Because it was a bit breezy, I gave them a cardboard box lying on its side, and about every hour they would retreat into it for a nap, emerging again after 15 minutes or so for more foraging.

So low 80s? Paradise! I imagine making sure they don't get too hot might be the bigger challenge

 

[mistymeadowchicks]

'

' I'm sure your chicks would love some fresh air & sunshine looking for treasures in the grass. From my experience, you do need to get busy on the coop ASAP! They will grow faster than you can imagine turning into escape artists & major poop producers! (My gang of 7 week olders goes out today--I finished their grow-out coop yesterday. Thank goodness__ I'm way beyond ready for them to be out!) Enjoy your chickens--they're fascinating & very entertaining. And yes, babies are fun--but you're that much closer to EGGS! which is equally thrilling!

 

[chuckzoo]

 

[Krisy624]

The chicks loved the warm air and the grass! They ran around like crazy in their little pen for a couple hours while I was cleaning up the lawn furniture.

I was looking around at some pictures of chickens at 6-8 weeks... my chickens are really small... they almost look like the 1-2 week old pictures that I am seeing. I am wondering if the guy at TSC might have told me the wrong age? They are still fitting in the palm of my hand - maybe only 3-4 inches long at most. They have feathers and some fluff - I thought that was their adult feathers... but I'm thinking they aren't went I was looking at these pictures! Yikes!