How old do Chicks need to be going outside in the coop?

[donrae]

They're ready! I don't brood indoors at all so it's pretty easy to just remove the light when they stop sleeping under it. I was shutting it off on sunny days and only using it at night much younger but they were altogether finished and sleeping on the roost around six weeks. And these were early spring chicks so it was barely past last frost. They don't need nearly as much heat and babying as newbies tend to think.

x2

I wish everyone who broods chicks could see chicks raised by a broody first, and see just how much time those little chicklets spend out from under momma, no matter how cold it is outside. They don't get pasty butt, they rarely just die for no reason, and they feather out so much faster.