Putting Chicks Outside

[The NY Sharps]

Our family is brand new at raising chickens and we have lots of questions. #1 - When can I move my chicks from inside to outside??? They will still be in Brooder, but i'd like to keep them in the garage. Temp in my area (Upstate NY) is high 20's-low 30's at night and 40's to 50's during the day....is it still too cold?????

 

[TOP KNOT]

Hello! If you leave them in the brooder with wood or cardboard sides and have a cover( wood or cardboard) I would cover up at night and put a screen on top of half during day. Just mess with it to regulate the temp. They should be fine. I moved mine out at 2 weeks because they got to big for the space in the brooder.(43 chicks) I put them at one end of the hen house. I blocked off a 9x5 area and hung 2 250 watt lamps from roost rails and covered the rails with cardboard to hold the heat down. Now they are a month old and I opened up a space so they can run in and out of the brooder into the coop during the day.(all indoors) They will go in to the heat when they need it, I have a few that stay out quite a lot and some that seem never to come out at all! I keep food in and out of the warm area and put the water just inside the warm space. This works great for me. Our temps are the same here. I never keep them in the house, I started them in my husbands big garage, no draft, but only 40 degrees in there. I just kept the brooder covered and would remove part of the lid when temps allowed. You can also use something on the outside of the brooder to insulate it (like straw bails), but you probably wont have to. If it were me they probably would have been started in your garage with an insulated box with lid and good red lamps. Hope this helps