pic of my chicks, is this what's considererd "fully feathered"? Can they be outside full-time?

[chickenman1028]

I live in nj and my chicks are 5 weeks old and it's cold out should I use heat light in coop and should I let them stay 3 more weeks in my basement

 

[FarmerBlake]

After reading all the previous comments, my girls are moving out tonight. Temps for the next two weeks are lows in the 50's. Hurray for chicks and people! Have 3 Phoenix/ISA Browns that wait for me to take them outside to the run every morning. They have been enjoying the afternoons in the run while the temps were in the lower 60's during the day. This past week, they have spent almost all day out there. This morning, as I took one of them outside, I came back down to the basement to find the other two standing on the table by the brooder box waiting their turn (impatiently). The last one tried to follow me out the door to go outside. If it weren't for the hawks I see overhead sometimes, I would have let her. No more squawking and grumbling as they have to go back to the brooder box anymore!

 

[Tennessee Great Granny]

Yes I realize the question was asked years ago but it is one anyone could still ask today, so I am putting in my experience with raising Buff Orpingtons knowing if anyone Googles the same question that they will have a bunch of opinions to choose from. I allow my moms to raise some of their kids, but I also sell them as chicks and juveniles and even early breeding adults. It depends upon what the buyers want; therefore I hatch most of them myself. Since I raise them to older birds to meet customer demands I don't have space inside my breezeway to house older chicks they go out just as soon as I can get them out. **** the last place that has down is their heads and as they feather out you can still see some down poking through the feathers. Once the down is gone and the nights are above 50 degrees Fahrenheit they go into a nursery. The nurseries are eco flex jumbo Fontana prefabs, but they do the job nicely, and they are fenced off from everyone else so they can be safe. I do not supplement heat. These are great even into the frost warning season. We are now in early November in southeastern TN. We have had our first frost. The feathered babies (about 5-6 weeks old) are outside without supplemental heat BUT what I do is what I saw a mom do with over 30 chicks dumped into her care. I teach them to cuddle huddle in groups into the nest boxes together. It only takes a night or two to train them. They must have light enough to see where to go inside of the nursery so I carry a flashlight. Once it's dark they freeze still right where they are at because they do not see well at all in the dark. Once they get used to sleeping outside they'll go inside all on their own, but some play needy. My orphan chicks did that when their mom was killed by a raccoon who snapped her neck and left her body right in front of us as we almost reached them. Their older brother from a previous batch of the same mom came and took over her little ones. Another thing that helps is an older pullet or even a rooster will come and take charge over them and corral them into the nursery at bedtime and spend time with them during the day. I've got two batches outside for winter sales of grown pullets and cockerels and they are thriving. I have another batch I am giving an extra week to because I need time to assemble another nursery and get it fenced off. I only had two tiny chicks hatch today from a batch of 14 eggs due to an incubator failure. Those I will keep inside until about 8 weeks with four older, but later born from a previous hatch (I do it intentionally) because they will need the body heat from each other at night when they go out and I want them as one family. Two alone will not make it through cold nights. The day time temps by the time they are ready to go out will be colder than now. I will also wean them off of the brooder plate during the day the week before they go out by turning it off for increasing times until it is off during the day and only on at night until they go out. This is my winter strategy. We do have milder winters here than northern states. I hatch, grow and put them outside until the end of December. The older chicks often tend to protect and cuddle huddle on their own with younger chicks. It's instinctual with them. I noticed this with power outages and the brooder heaters were not working. Older chicks naturally protect the younger especially when a mother hen is not present. If we have a "severe" cold snap (like sub zero temps -rare event) with sleet or snow they are corralled inside the nursery with a heater, food and water and a small light. It's just for a day so no biggie and I'm always prepared for such an occasion. I also have water heaters but I still have not had an occasion to use them- but I am prepared. They are my babies and they are used to being handled by people. They go to good homes often with children who love to pet and cuddle them. Sometimes with 4 H kids being their new owners. It's awesome raising chickens and getting pictures from the new owners of how they are doing. Share the love!!!