New to chickens

[abmurry914]

Hi! My husband and I bought some chicks last week, we got quite a good assortment!
2 Isa Browns, 2 Rhode Island Reds, 2 Silver Laced, 1 Cuckoo Maran, 1 Easter Egger
& 1 Ameraucana

We also had purchased a golden comet, but she sadly died the very next morning.

We've got the brooder set up in the spare room and I try to feed them out if my hand and handle them at least one time a day (the Easter egger gets super jealous if I pick the others up and she tries to fly at my hands)
My husband is building our coop and it should be finished this weekend or early next week.
I am wondering, if the weather is nice next week if it would be okay to take them outside for just a little while as long as it's warm?
I am also curious as to when we will be able to tell the sexes of some of the chicks, we know for sure most of them are female but the Ameraucana, the Cuckoo Maran & The Easter Egger were all unsexed at the feed store. We got the Ameraucana from Tractor Supply and the other two from Rural King. The associate at RK said she was pretty sure they were both female but we're not 100% sure we trust that judgement. We don't want to end up with 3 roosters since we have neighbors.

Thank you for any info!
Sorry for the super long post.

 

[Rocky1028]

Hi!

Your chicks should be fine outside. Mine are about a week old and I let them in their tractor for at least an hour everyday, which they seem to love. My biggest piece of advice is to just watch them and observe what they might need. Today, for example, there was a slight breeze and it was only 63*F which some people think is way too cold for young chicks but mine were very restless in their brooder. When I took them out, they ended up paying no attention to the weather. I just watched for any signs of them being cold (ex: huddling, loud cheeping). So as long as the sun is out and it's fairly warm, I would say supervised outside time in a secure place would be a great time to let them explore.

About sexing them: you could try the different methods like feather sexing, but that isn't 100% accurate as it depends on their lineage. I wish I could be more helpful (a more experienced member can possibly help you out), but for those specific breeds you mentioned you really won't be able to tell until 6-8 weeks, maybe later.

I hope this helps!