Free Ranging my chicks

[shellers]

Any advice on how old my chicks need to be before I let them free range with supervision? My little hens are 8 weeks old today. It has been in the high 70's in our NW corner of Montana and they have been loving their run for the last 2 weeks. I'm home for the weekend and think they would love to check out the bugs outside their run, but I'm nervous to let them out. I've grown kind of attached to them! Open for advice

 

[Percheron chick]

They're still rather young. Mine don't tend to be brave enough to be outside the run until they are closer to 16 weeks. How long have they been outside? It takes a while for them to know that the coop is where they need to come back to. When you do start turning them out, it's easiest to let them out 30 minutes before bedtime. They won't range far and they are more compliant about going in.

 

[Thassa]

If they are supervised you could let them out now, I doubt they will stray very far. My first batch were about 6-7 weeks old when I started letting them out during the day into the fenced back yard unsupervised. I came home one day to find them all missing until I looked closer and found them all about 20 feet away sunning themselves on a rock. They had managed to slip out in the tiny area between the house and the fence. To this day they are a very independent bunch just over a year old now.

 

[shellers]

They've been out in the run for about 2 weeks. At first it was just a few hours on the weekend when we were around. Then I found them waiting by the chicken door in the coop every morning....they nearly trample each other to get outside! They are super funny to watch. This last week was really nice out, so we let them stay in the run even while we were at work. They would go in the coop during the heat of the day, when I checked on them at lunch. I will keep considering it. Love the advice! Thank you thank you!