I would like to put my chicks outside

Date sort Score sort
mmiller101014

mmiller101014

Hatching
May 7, 2015
8
0
7
I live in California right about point conception and have 9 6-7 week old chicks. They are getting too big for their brooding box and I have been taking them out during the day but still bringing them in at night. About how much longer will they need to spend their nights in the house?
 
I brood my chicks outdoors in an open pen within the run, here in Northern Wyoming. We consider 30mph winds a breeze.
wink.png
We often see winds in excess of 50 mph. The week my latest chicks went out we had winds of 60 mph and sideways snow, with a power outage tossed in just to keep it interesting! They do great! I've raised 3 broods of chicks this way and haven't lost a single one. They are strong, active, curious and integration with the rest of the flock has gone very smoothly since they can see each other constantly. There is a 3 sided box stood up on end where their Mama Heating Pad/cave is located, and that blocks the prevailing North and West winds. When that wind comes down off the mountains it's more than a mite chilly. But they sure don't spend much time there...they love to have the entire brooder to explore regardless of what the weather is doing.



Last year my first chicks just about drove me, and everyone around me (right, Bee?) crazy. I fussed, I worried, I stressed....and by 5.5 weeks I couldn't handle them being in the house one more day. So they got evicted out to the still-unfinished coop on April 1st. I put a heat lamp out there for them and checked them constantly. Nighttime temps in the coop were in the 20s. They didn't even use the area where the heat lamp was. Same thing the second night. So on the morning of the third day the lamp came out. If they weren't using it, I wasn't risking it. That night it snowed, and our last snowfall was June 6th. Those chicks did great, and are now thriving adults. This year's chicks (a total of 11 that are 9 weeks old, 4 that are 8 weeks old, and 8 that are 4 weeks old) are absolutely fine. The older chicks started outside while the run was still covered for winter. They were about 4 and 5 weeks old when the run was uncovered for the season, The new chicks have been in the uncovered run since day one.

Bee is right, it's a simple matter of adapting to your conditions and using common sense. With a wind block in place, these hardy little boogers can thrive outdoors.
 
If they are fully feathered they should be fine outside as far as the weather is concerned Of course you want to make sure to keep them safe from predators.
 
How big is their coop? Most chicks that age are feathered well enough to be outside. I put mine out when it was still about 40 degrees at night, they did just fine. The reason I ask about coop size, is that too small a coop with too many birds can cause them to get too warm.
 
I never keep mine in the house, so the answer is go ahead and put them out there. Next time just brood them right in the coop if you can so they are naturally hardened off and there's no transition. Run an extension cord to the coop if you have to, but feel free to keep all that mess and noise out of your house from now on.
 
I think they are fully feathered. But they still seem small. I went out to check on them and they were all huddled in a pile. Their outside coop is big 12x40 plus a hen house on the side for when they are ready. I would really like to leave them outside all the time but every time I come around they all come running and I feel like they want to go back inside. (haha, maybe they just want food). Thanks for the advice, obviously I'm new at this :)
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom