I have three six-day old chicks at this very moment who are outside in the run with the other chicks and they aren't under any heat source for very long if at all during the day. It ranges from 70 to 85F during the day. They are quite comfortable, active , and happy.
It's a misconception that chicks have to be kept at a constant temperature, and those heat guidelines are an absolute joke. It's more dangerous to follow them to the letter than not, as it's easy for chicks to become overheated.
I highly recommend the heating pad system of brooding chicks. Mine are "brooding" right in the run in a secure pen, and when they feel the need to warm up, they simply duck into their heating pad cave. Most of the time, they are running around, not baking under their heat source. So yes, by all means, take them out of the brooder.
Since my chicks aren't in a conventional brooder, I can get right into the pen with the chicks, sit down, and they climb onto my lap and my legs and we bond. Sometimes they even fall asleep on me. You can't do that with a regular brooder.
To learn more about this brooding system, the thread is "Mama heating pad in the Brooder" here on this forum. I tried it for the first time this past May, and now for the second time with my present chicks. I will never go back to the old fashioned and dangerous heat lamp. And it's so much easier to bond with my chicks using this method.
