Question please. Need to get my big chicks outside.

sheilan54

In the Brooder
5 Years
Apr 9, 2014
17
0
22
Hello all. I try my very best to not question everyone to death, and i know i came upon this somewhere. My 11 chicks are now six weeks, almost seven. We are working on the chicken house, but my husband has really outdone himself on it and it's taking more time then i assumed. It's beautiful and since he works full time i try not to push him. These guys need to go outside so i have a large wooden cage with roosts and the works that my brother in law loaned me today. I sanitized it completely and will be slowly changing them over this week. Tomorrow i have four brandnew just hatched Blue copper marans coming so i'm trying to get everything set up. My question is about the transition outside. My Brother in law told me he lost some young chickens once by not letting them get used to the dirt and new run. Somewhere i read i should let them eat small amounts of dirt from the run they will be going into. Is this true and how do i do it? And how long do i need to do it before putting them in.
 
When mine are 2 weeks old I move them from an enclosed brooder to a wire cage brooder in the growout pen. I guess they breath enough chicken germs to build their imunity until they're a month old when I open the cage door and they jump out into the pen where they live until their date with the hatchet or go the layer pen.
Don't know if that's the "proper" or best way but that's how I do it.
 
Thanks everyone. I really am glad i found this board. There's so much more to raising chicks without a momma hen then one would assume.
 

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