Outside yet?

[KTruxillo]

I have 12 3week old chicks (4 EE's, 4 BR, 2 leghorn and 2 Brahmas) I live in south louisiana where it is still in the high 80's to mid 90's during the day and mid 70's at night. The chicks are currently inside but are making a heck of a mess now that they are attempting to fly and growing, plus I'm afraid they are going to outgrow the brooder soon the way they are going now. Is it to early to put them in their section of the run with their coop and a light? We have 16 hens and a roo but the chicks will be placed in their own separeated area until old enough to join the flock?

 

[Campesina]

I am new but since no one has replied I will share what I have learned about new chicks.
Newly hatched 90 -95 degrees.
Drop 5 degrees each week until they get their feathers.
So at 3 weeks yours ought to be at about 80 degrees.
Good luck.

 

[KTruxillo]

thanks for your input! I am ready to get them outside but don't want to push it. They seem to be everywhere and it's funny because I have had other chicks in the same brooder but they didn't seem to grow out of it as fast or be as active as this group is. Maybe I will test it and put them outside for a couple hours and see how they do.

 

[cassidy22]

We put all our birds outside by 3 weeks. We provide a "tent" for them, since they are too small to make it up into the coop (and we don't mix the babies with the adult birds, because they will get picked on) The tent provides them shade and shelter during the hot day, but also gives them someplace to huddle at nght that keeps their own body warmth in. We are much colder at night at my climate, even when the days are hot, and the birds do fine. Granted, we raise 30-100 at a time, so there are always plenty to huddle together to stay warm on a cold, wet rainy night. We can also put out heat lamps under the tent if the temp really wants to drop at night. I think 70 would be fine. We don't get out the heat lamps until it gets below 55.

 

[KTruxillo]

Thanks! We have a dog house that we use when we need to separate chickens, so I think that will be a temporary home for them until they are ready to join the big girls. I can run a light out there as well. I checked our weather forecast for the next 10 days and it looks pretty uneventful as far as storms and the tmp seems to be staying in the high 80s and low 90s, I think they might just make the trip outside and we will see what happens...all else fails they come back inside.