Is it too soon?

[mammachick]

Our chicks are about 21 days old (some older). They look like they have most of their wing feathers. They are getting crowded in the tupperware box that they are in, and every time we take the gate off the top to change the water or food, they try and jump out. Anyway, the coop is done is it too soon to put them in there with the heat lamp? Our nights are in the high 40's with day temp ranging in the 70's.

Also, should I put shavings or hay in the coop? And how thick?

Here is a picture of "cluck cluck" my DD named her. Whenever we come out "she"(do you think she is going to be she?) jumps on the water and sticks her head up through the baby gate to say "HI".

 

[gritsar]

If you can safely provide a heat lamp, then by all means put them out. Depending on the total number of chicks you have and the size of the coop you may want to devise a way of keeping them confined to a smaller portion of the coop, near the heat lamp.
I say this assuming that your coop is draft free and predator proof.

 

[mammachick]

The coop is 4x6 and draft free. We have 6 chickens.

 

[gritsar]

What some folks do is to create a larger brooder that is then moved to the coop, to keep them closer together near the heat, as I said. A few boards nailed together with chicken wire, for example.
Provide a heavy layer of pine shavings on the floor to give them something to snuggle down in.
I didn't brood my chicks in the house. They were in the coop from day one and did just fine.
Please be sure to doubly secure your heat lamp. We used a chain and zip ties, in case one of the attachments were to fail. Coop fires do happen.
ETA: I use the deep litter method (you can do search here on BYC about that), and pine shavings are ideal for that. Just a whole lot easier to shovel when it comes time to clean the coop, IMO.

 

[Eggs4Sale]

You might even consider two heat lamps if you don't confine them to a smaller area of the coop. With so much space, the heat lamp loses it's heating ability since it has to warm up a bigger space. Try it the first night, check on them every once and a while, and see how it goes.

And Cluck Cluck looks like a boy to me.

 

[mnhomeschoolmom]

I let my 18 day old old girls run all over the coop as long as they are content. Then it's back to the brooder (in the coop) with two heat lamps. They've been doing very well. Even during the cold nights here in MN no problems.

Tracey