I am new to chicken raising and have a question about my 4 week old pullets.

[Volmerchicks]

How long do I keep my 4 week old pullets in the coop before I let them in the run? We just brought them home yesterday. We are new to chickens and have read conflicting thoughts.

 

[Little Chicken Girl]

Hello and welcome to BYC!

If it is above 60F where you live, than it should be fine (unless you live in an aerial predator populated area and the run is not covered or you have small/slow maturing breeds). However, if there are ways that the peeps could escape from the run area, then I would keep them in the coop for a couple more days to 'home' them. Chickens are habitual creatures but may run off or get lost if moved to new territory.

 

[bobbi-j]

If your run is attached to your coop (a covered run would be ideal), you can open the door between the coop and run and let them figure out if they want to be in or out. As stated above, you want to make sure they can't get out of the run.

 

[Meg-in-MT]

Hello and welcome to BYC!

 

[Ridgerunner]

You get different opinions because different things work, we have different experiences, set-ups,and conditions. The answer to this one could at least partially depend on whether you have a raging blizzard going on or if you are in the sub-tropics where you always have nice weather. Modifying your profile to show your general location can help with some of these questions.

Four weeks is kind of an in-between age. Most chicks are feathered out and can handle some pretty chilly weather at that age but a few can maybe benefit from a few more days protected form the worst of the weather. Whether it was raining or dry could influence my decision also. Chicks at 4 weeks can usually handle some fairly rough conditions but it doesn't hurt to be a bit cautious. Just because they can handle those conditions doesn't mean they have to.

If you leave them in the coop only for a week or so they will get used to the coop as a safe place. When you let them out into the run they might or might not return to the coop at night to sleep. They might or might not go inside in bad weather, but probably will. By that time they will be a week older and can handle some pretty bad weather anyway. If you feed and water in the coop they will know where it is. For all these reasons I suggest you leave them in the coop for about a week, then do as Bobbi suggests and just open the door to the run and walk away. Sometimes when I do that they are all in the run within 15 minutes. Sometimes it can take three days before they all leave the comfort and familiarity of the coop. A lot of people on here get stressed about that. Don't. They will work it out.

Some will tell you that they will return to the coop at night if you keep them in the coop for a week before you let them into the run. Mine never do but I'm sure some do. I think having an elevated coop affects that but even if I leave them in the coop for a week or two before I let them into the run, mine always try to bed down in the run under the pop door. I have to go down there when they have settled down for the night and put them in the coop. Sometimes they all catch on really quickly and start going in the coop on their own after one or two times. I've had some go three weeks before they all catch on. What normally happens is that a few start going in after a couple of nights and they are all going in after about a week. I don't know which group you have plus if your set-up is different to mine your results could be very different.

Welcome to the forum and good luck. It can be a fun adventure.

 

[aart]

Welcome to BYC!

If you feed and water in the coop they will know where it is. For all these reasons I suggest you leave them in the coop for about a week, then do as Bobbi suggests and just open the door to the run and walk away.

Ditto Dat^^^^