My Chicks are six weeks old, When can they go outside?

[Jen4]

I took my chicks out to play today for the 1st time and they loved it... it was nice and sunny today.

 

[cgmccary]

mendogurl wrote:

cgmccary wrote:

It was 65 F this afternoon here in alabama & sunny so I let my 4 week olds out for the afternoon--in an outdoor pen, new grass, their food & water-- brought them in before it got dark.

I try and get them used to the outdoors as early as possible. The fresh air & sunshine, IMHO, are good for them.
I am in So Cal. I have been putting my 3 week old chicks outside in an pen on the back lawn, late morning, for the last 5 days. It is about 80-85F. A couple of days ago it was over 90F in the sun. I had to give them a little shade. Made a few roosts with branches, and put their food and water in as well. Scattered some food and grit in the grass
I bring them in when it starts to get cool..
They are some happy little birds ! They were starting to get sort of squakky and restless in the brooder all day. All that goes away when they get out.

Am I taking chances? Is it too soon?
​

Oh no, not too soon, that warm outside, they should be out. They seem to sleep more indoors. When I brought my 40 indoors from the "juvenile pen" this evening (upper 70s here today, sunny, blue sky), they seemed so worn out as they'd jumped, flew and played all day-- when I went down in the basement to check on them a few moments ago, they were all asleep under their lights listening to their Mozart I play for them on the Bose wave radio I put down there (I have them split in four brooders in groups of ten so they can eat more easily, but they all go out together outside.).

I also have five chicks living outside with their mother hen right now and it has been in the 30s and 40s at night. They sleep in a cardboard box with pine shavings inside set up on some concrete blocks. I built a little ramp for them to go up into the box. I have the box in a pen with a top on it but otherwise, it is an open pen. The chicks are only a couple of days old but this hen has raised a number of clutches for me out in the run before with the general chicken population (and would even venture out in the neighbors' yards). There are a lot of large stray cats about right now so I am keeping them penned up for a week or two (until they are faster on their feet!).​

 

[~*Sweet Cheeks*~]

It was an absolutely beautiful day in Olympia, WA today. Mine are 6 1/2 wks old now and so ready to go outside.

I spent the day getting my 12 x 12 horse stall with event front ready for the chicks.

After I get the hardward cloth up on the open bar front and door and mount a light, I'll take the girls out in their stock tank and let them continue to stay in that for a couple days with time with the top off so they can get used to their new digs.

In a couple weeks, I'll get their dog kennel run moved over there.

I was a good chick Mom today taking them big worms I found while digging a trench in front of the horse shelter that was holding water.

 

[ssledoux]

Gosh, I feel pretty horrible. My chicks go in the brooder in the barn as soon as I get them (barring unforeseen complications). I have heat on them of course, but I have never really raised any inside (a couple of times I've done the laundry room and this time I have had the infirmary, but, other than that, I usually start mine out in the brooder.

I have 4-5 week olds that are out in the big brooder with no light at night or anything and they've been sleeping in the upper 40's and lower 50's. They have boxes full of hay and they do snuggle down in them at night, but there is no light. They are always running all over the place when I get out there in the mornings, cold or not.

My 4 week old meat birds are sleeping without heat for the first time tonight, and I think it's gonna be in the upper 50's. But their brooder is wrapped with a heavy tarp so I think they'll be fine. They're fat and fluffy with feathers!

 

[Judy]

Mine went to their coop at 3 weeks which was 3 weeks ago. Lows in the 40's then. They had a heat lamp. They showed no sign of being too cold. I would have let them outside during the day as well but the fence wasn't finished. I still plug the heat lamp in at night but they probably don't need it. They were all over the coop from the first day. It's a large airy coup as we get so hot here, but they do have a corner that is not drafty, where the heat lamp is.

 

[lovemychickies]

I'm ready to put my two standards out with the rest of the flock, but my little bantams still need a little time. They are 5 weeks old. I'm going to keep them together until they are all fully feathered and then have a lamp out for them at night.
Good Luck!

 

[PotterWatch]

I have started putting my chicks straight outside when I get them as well. I put the last batch out at 2wks and the ones I bought just the other day have been outside since I brought them home (they are about three or four days old now). They are in closed brooders with heat lamps, plenty of shavings to snuggle in and they seem to be doing just fine.

 

[Lil Chickie Mama]

Quote:
I doubt that's a bad thing, or at least I hope not! If you've had success in the past doing it this way then it's probably fine. I hope it is because my plan was to do the same thing. I'm setting up one of those metal sheds and building the brooder and later the nest boxes inside of it. We have 3 huge and growing piles of rice hulls that will fill it for litter and a couple extra bales of rice hay for when they get a little older and I don't have to worry about the sprattle leg or whatever it's called. Fortunately it will be June before my babies arrive and plenty warm even without the heat lamp, but I have it anyway. Good luck all, I'm sure I'll be bombarding you all with worries when my babies get here!

 

[Calebs Acre]

Are there any temperature guidelines about when they can safely go outside permanently? I have chicks that are about 4 weeks with feathers on the wings and they have been outside during the days without problems. We've had such up and down weather here on Long Island. The days have been rainy and in the mid 60s with a breeze. The nights are in the 50s, but we've been below normal. We are more often in the 70s during the days. I keep my adult chickens in a covered dog kennel with a Little Tikes house, so I would have a separate kennel for the chicks and will be making up a locked fully protected enclosure until we finish our coop. I do not have electricity down there yet.

I don't want them to get too cold, but they seem cramped in a brooder now. I can put them in multiple brooders (12 black copper marans) but I would like to get them outside as soon as possible because it seems healthier for them to be out in the fresh air instead of inside the house. LOL.

(Plus, I already have what seems like hundreds of tubs of ducks to tote in and out every AM and PM! OK, maybe only six tubs....but that's a lot of work.)

Seems like everyone puts them out pretty soon?

 

[RAWR]

oh, ya, they can go out.