How to raise sweet chicks & when can the be let out to play?

[wvchickenchick311]

If you treat your birds and make sure they don’t give your babies any germs then you can let them visit on the day time.

If you want to you could put them out at 3 weeks for good you just have to make sure it’s warm enough for them and separate them from your big hens if ya got some. They are way to little to fight off the big hens so just keep an eye out.
Good luck!

 

[Welsh Ducky]

I am on the other side of the 'germ' issue. I let mine out for day trips almost immediately and after about a week brood in the coop. This is how a mama hen would do it... And she can't dose with cordid.
Obviously keeping them away from things that would knowingly make them sick is important, but letting them be chicks and enjoy their chick-hood is important too.

Ok..I always try my best to keep all my animals in a more natural way, and “she can’t dose with cordid” is exactly what I thought
Thanks!

 

[Welsh Ducky]

If you treat your birds and make sure they don’t give your babies any germs then you can let them visit on the day time.

If you want to you could put them out at 3 weeks for good you just have to make sure it’s warm enough for them and separate them from your big hens if ya got some. They are way to little to fight off the big hens so just keep an eye out.
Good luck!

Ok..as far as just going out in the yard to hang out in the grass, what do you think?

 

[Rlmp817]

I have 9 chicks that are just under a week and they will be moved into the coop brooder later today. They imprint on the flock so much easier and the see/no touch integration that early works really well for us.

 

[DobieLover]

Ok thanks. I did want to try and let them play in the grass, I didn’t stop to think about germs...we’ve had turkeys and cats walk through our yard, would they be leaving germs around the yard?

They will be fine going out. They need to be in contact with the soil on which they will live. I provide sod chunks when they are just over 1 week old. My current batch has been on the ground since they were 3 weeks and 2 weeks old. Would have been sooner if I had finished the brooder run earlier.
Coccidia protozoa are everywhere and are present in the healthy guts of chickens. Chickens develop a tolerance to the specific strains in the soils where they live. Disease occurs when an overload of oocysts are ingested (think warm, wet weather).
It is actually important to get them outside for fresh air and to develop their immune systems. I always have Corid on hand so I can act fast if I need to.
I'll leave the rest of the question to others as I feel a chicken is happiest with other chickens. If they want to interact with me, that's great but I'm not going to force the issue.

 

[Oncoming Storm]

One thing I do to connect with my babies is sticking my finger in their water and then dabbing it in their food so it sticks to my finger. Some will be shy, but there will be those chicks that can’t resist a convenient snack! As of raising Roos to be sweet...you’ve got one of the best breeds to do so, just make sure you hang out with them, let them hop on you and your hands. You’re like a giant jungle gym to them, who doesn’t love that?! My first roo was a Dominecker (If you’re not familiar with the breed, it is one of the most aggressive breeds EVER) and he was a demon despite being my baby as a lil one, so it depends on the breed to a point. And I’ll be honest (no hate please) I don’t keep track of weeks, I just put them outside when they’re almost completely feathered out so I know they’ll be fine in the hot summer days.

 

[Blooie]

Mine are raised outside in a wire brooder pen within the run, where the adults can walk around them on 3 sides. The pen is set up in a corner of the run, borrowed temporarily from the adults’ space. They are on the same litter that they’ll live on for the rest of their lives, and when they’re outside in yard, on the same dirt as well. (I have always had a dog around in the yard too, by the way.) Chicks here get a clump of sod, grassy side down, in their brooder pen, to play with. Even when I was brooding them in the house back when I first started, they got a clump of sod from the yard at just a couple of days old. I dug it up and plopped it in the brooder box - roots, grasses, little pebbles, bugs and all. At first it terrified them - this big alien in their space. But soon they were digging in it, pecking and scratching in it, playing King of the Mountain on it, and having a blast. In the process they were building up immunities to the fungi and microbes that they’d be living on forever while they still had some natural immunities from their mother. As it broke down they loved to dust bathe in it. It virtually eliminated “brooder boredom”. And they got little chick-sized bits of grit from it.

Watch a broody hen with her chicks. She has them out on the ground, following her around, at just a couple of days old. They eat whatever tidbits she calls them to find, they eat bugs and weeds, seeds and even chicken poop, they explore, they drink out of mud puddles and the water left standing after a rain. They are tough and strong from the start because they haven’t been kept in an artificially “sterile” environment. They spend most of their time running all over the place, just ducking under her for a quick warmup or if they get spooked, then they’re right back out again. When the sun goes down they tuck in under, on top of, or around her and they sleep - all night through. She has no night light under her wings, nor do they eat all night long. They sleep - 8 hours of complete and total, uninterrupted sleep. If a two pound hen can do it with no books, no charts, no experts, and no web sites, why do we do it so differently and think we are doing it better?

I duplicate her as closely as possible. Mine live outside and never see an artificial light, either for heat or for my comfort. They have a Mama Heating Pad Cave. It’s soft, snuggly, dark, secure and warm. They wean themselves off all heat by 3 weeks old and are mingling with the adults all day long. At 4 weeks old they are off all heat completely, totally integrated with the flock, and their brooder pen is torn down completely. They are playing and foraging outside in the yard. They wander in and out of the coop and run at will. I bought a bottle of Corrid when I got my very first chicks in 2014. I have yet to break the seal on the bottle.

You might think chicks raised away from me would be flighty and unfriendly. Nope. They are self-regulating so they are calm and confident. When I go out for chores or to check them right after I get (or hatch) them, they react as most tiny chicks do - they cheep loudly and try to get away from me. But the difference is that they HAVE a place to get away. They aren’t running the perimeter of the box in panic and associating that panic with you. They duck under Mama Heating Pad for security, just as they would under a broody. After they figure out that they are safe, which takes just a few minutes, they come right back out. And they see the adults in the run - all but 4 of the 22 raised exactly as they are being raised, by the way - coming up to us and not being alarmed, which tells them that we are in no way threats to them. It doesn’t take them long to accept us, then look forward to our visits.

Now, I am certainly not telling you that you have to raise your chicks this way. You are there, I’m not. You know your setup, your climate, and your own personal comfort zone far better than I do. After doing my first batch “by the book”, I’ve done 8 other batches like this over the years, and I won’t do it any other way. But the points of this long post are this:
1) Being outside on the ground at a young age is no more a threat to their immune systems than keeping them isolated on an artificial surface for weeks, then just putting them out with no chance to build any immunities gradually. Sudden change stresses them, and being evicted is a huge change. When chicks are stressed, any parasite load they carry (and Coccidia are present in them no matter how they’re hatched and raised) can bloom overnight and outstrip their natural ability to cope with the resulting toxins and load.

2) And you don’t have to carry them in your pockets or shirts constantly to build calm, happy chickens . In a brooder box, no matter how big it is, all they can do when they are frightened is run the perimeter of the box, around and around. They pile up for a few minutes because instinct for self-preservation tells them that the chicks on the outside of the pile are more likely to be taken, so none of them wants to be on the outside of the pile. But the pile quickly breaks up and they’re back to running. I have a short video which illustrates this and self-calming perfectly. I’ll be happy to post it, should you care to see it.

Could they get sick if you put them outside? Of course they could. I’d be a fool to say otherwise. But dirt is going to be a natural part of their world for years to come. Putting that contact off might make humans feel better, but it’s not how they are programmed. And dealing with giant predators, which is how they see us, means we have to force them to “like us” by grabbing, approaching them and suddenly appearing over the edge of the brooder box, offering special treats, and not giving them any way to self-calm and simply accept us as part of their world on their terms.

There are no totally right and totally wrong ways to raise chicks - the right way is what works for each individual. So my point is is not to pressure, but to reassure. The more natural a start we give these little critters, the easier their lives become, and outside in the grass, the sunshine, and the fresh air are pretty doggone natural.

 

[Welsh Ducky]

One thing I do to connect with my babies is sticking my finger in their water and then dabbing it in their food so it sticks to my finger. Some will be shy, but there will be those chicks that can’t resist a convenient snack! As of raising Roos to be sweet...you’ve got one of the best breeds to do so, just make sure you hang out with them, let them hop on you and your hands. You’re like a giant jungle gym to them, who doesn’t love that?! My first roo was a Dominecker (If you’re not familiar with the breed, it is one of the most aggressive breeds EVER) and he was a demon despite being my baby as a lil one, so it depends on the breed to a point. And I’ll be honest (no hate please) I don’t keep track of weeks, I just put them outside when they’re almost completely feathered out so I know they’ll be fine in the hot summer days.

Ive been reading more about raising male chicks to be sweet Roos..I’ve seen people saying not to hold them, and “he must’ve been held too much when he was little, so he’s aggressive”...should I not be holding them? I was hoping to get them used to being held, I’m just unsure now...also, I like to set my hand in their brooder so they can come and hop on my arm, like a “jungle Jim” and sometimes the chicks peck my hand, which looks to me like they are just curious, but could it be aggressive behavior from the boys? Maybe I’m just getting worked up on nothing, just wanted to be sure I’m doing this right!

 

[wvchickenchick311]

Ok..as far as just going out in the yard to hang out in the grass, what do you think?

I honestly think they would be completely fine with supervised daily visits out in the grass. As long as they have gritt they can eat the bugs and grass.