Moved my chicks outside

[Phwaah]

Hey all. I got 4 chicks which are about 3 weeks old now. The wife has kicked them out of the house so they've gone into the chicken coop outside. I'm from Australia so temps here are ranging from overnights 5-10c and day time 20-30c. I have a 60w heat source in the coop to keep them warm which we were using from the brooder.

Was wondering if I should open the coop door and let them wander on the grass underneath during the day. I was going to construct a different ramp for them to get in and out. I had previously lost 2 chicks to coccidiosis so I didn't want any more problems. I have them in medicated feed and have amprolium at the ready.

Attached photos to my set up and coop. Thanks all.

Edit: forgot to ask when is a good time to start them with veggie scrapes and/or table scrapes?

Edit2: seems like however I put the feeder the fed ends up all on the floor. Has anyone got some tips to have less wastage?

 

[tsperry88]

It won't be long, if they can't already use that ladder. I see no issue opening up the run, other than you may have to place them in the coop by hand each night until they learn it's where they sleep.

I would move the food and water under the coop, if that's part of the run. Raising the food up to about the base of their neck helps prevent waste. They can have some treats, but only if they have access to chick grit. Treats should only be a small percentage of their diet.

 

[PioneerChicks]

In my experience, brooder-raised chicks don't know where to return at night. You will have to corral or carry them in.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I raise my chicks in a brooder in the main coop straight from the incubator or the post office. You don't have any adults to create integration problems so yours should do fine in that. What you want is to keep one area warm enough in the coolest temperatures and an area cool enough in the warmest temperatures. I do that by keeping the heat in one end and letting the far end cool off as much as it will. Decent ventilation up high allows that and keeps breezes off of them. I'm not sure how much ventilation that coop actually has, you may need more.

I'd leave them locked in the coop section only for another week or two. That keeps them close to the heat, they won't get trapped away from it. That's the man reason. In those temperatures they won't need heat at night much longer. The other reason probably won't work but is worth trying.

If you house them in that coop only section they might get used to sleeping in it and return there at night once you do let them out. It works for some people. My grow-out coop is elevated like yours and no matter how long I leave them locked in the coop section they do not return to the coop at night. Instead they try to sleep under the pop door.

My brooder-raised chicks typically do not start to roost at night until they are around 10 to 12 weeks old. I've had some start as early as 5 weeks but until they start roosting they want to sleep in a group in a fairly low area. I think that is why mine want to sleep on the ground, not up in an elevated coop. Whatever the real reason is I go out at dark when they are trying to settle down for the night under the pop door and they are easy to catch and lock them in the coop at night. My typical broods are around 20 chicks, not your four. One time I only had to do that once and they all went in on their own. A couple of times I had to do that every night for three weeks before the last four finally got the message. Typically they all learn in about a week but each brood is different.

forgot to ask when is a good time to start them with veggie scrapes and/or table scrapes?

After they have grit. In Australia you might call it insoluble grit to differentiate from soluble grit which is crushed oyster shell. Two totally different things. Chickens don't have teeth to grind their food so they eat small rocks and use those in their gizzard to grind up things that need to be ground up. That's basically anything you would need to chew. Mine get grit by pecking at the ground. They find whatever small rocks they can. The harder it is the longer it lasts. If you buy insoluble grit it is probably granite, a very hard rock. They strain the waste from a granite quarry to get the right size. If you give yours access to the ground now they will find their own but most feed stores should have insoluble grit and not charge a lot for it. Yours probably still need chick grit as they are still pretty small.

seems like however I put the feeder the fed ends up all on the floor. Has anyone got some tips to have less wastage?

If you elevate that feeder to shoulder height you should see less waste plus they tend to not scratch as much trash in it. Another trick is to put a shallow pan under the feeder to trap whatever they shovel out. Let the feeder run out every now and them so they clean the waste feed up.

I had previously lost 2 chicks to coccidiosis

I'll copy something I wrote on medicated feed and Coccidiosis. It might help you, especially since you know you have that bug in your soil. Some major take-aways. Medicated feed does not give them immunity to Coccidiosis. It helps any exposure from becoming a problem while they develop immunity. If they are exposed to that bug for just a few weeks they can develop immunity to it. If you let then find their own grit now they will be exposed to that Coccidiosis bug and start building immunity.

First you need to know what the "medicated" is in the medicated feed. It should be on the label. Usually it is Amprolium, Amprol, some such product, but until you read the label, you really don't know. Most "medicated' feed from major brands for chicks that will be layers uses Amprolium, but there are a few out there mostly for broilers that use other medicines. I'll assume yours is an Amprolium product, but if it is not, then realize everything I say about it may not apply. And it is possible that the "medicated" is Amprolium AND something else.

Amprol is not an antibiotic. It does not kill anything. It inhibits the protozoa that cause coccidiosis (often called Cocci on this forum) from multiplying in the chicken's system. It does not prevent the protozoa from multiplying; it just slows that multiplication down. There are several different strains of protozoa that can cause Cocci, some more severe than others. Chickens can develop immunity to a specific strain of the protozoa, but that does not give them immunity to all protozoa that cause Cocci. Little bitty tiny baby chicks can develop that immunity easier than older chickens.

It is not a big deal for the chicken’s intestines to contain some of the protozoa that cause Cocci. The problem comes in when the number of those protozoa gets huge. The protozoa can multiply in the chicken’s intestines but also in wet manure. Different protozoa strains have different strengths, but for almost all cases, if you keep the brooder dry, you will not have a problem.

To develop immunity to a specific strain, that protozoa needs to be in the chicks intestines for two or three weeks. The normal sequence is that a chick has the protozoa. It poops and some of the cysts that develop the protozoa come out in the poop. If the poop is slightly damp, those cysts develop and will then develop in the chick's intestines when the chicks eat that poop. This cycle needs go on for a few weeks so all chicks are exposed and they are exposed long enough to develop immunity. A couple of important points here. You do need to watch them to see if they are getting sick. And the key is to keep the brooder dry yet allow some of the poop to stay damp. Not soaking wet, just barely damp. Wet poop can lead to serious problems.

What sometimes happens is that people keep chicks in a brooder and feed them medicated feed while they are in the brooder. Those chicks are never exposed to the Cocci protozoa that lives in the dirt in their run, so they never develop the immunity to it. Then, they are switched to non-medicated feed and put on the ground where they are for the first time exposed to the protozoa. They do not have immunity, they do not have the protection of the medicated feed, so they get sick. Feeding medicated feed while in the brooder was a complete waste.

I do not feed medicated feed. I keep the brooder dry to not allow the protozoa to breed uncontrollably. The third day that they are in the brooder, I take a scoop of dirt from the run and feed it to them so I can introduce the protozoa and they can develop the immunity they need to the strain they need to develop an immunity to. To provide a place for that slightly damp poop, I keep a square of plywood in the dry brooder and let the poop build up on that. I don't lose chicks to Cocci when they hit the ground.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with feeding medicated feed to chicks, whether the protozoa are present or not. It will not hurt them. They can still develop the immunity they need. But unless the protozoa are present, it also does no good.

If you get your chicks vaccinated for Cocci, do not feed medicated feed. It can negate the vaccinations.