So when do I need to put them outside??

[speckledhen]

I am hatching a batch right now and they will only be in the house for two weeks, then they'll go out in a grow-out coop with two heat lamps. Sometimes, you just have to get them out earlier than you would usually do.

 

[Clay In Iowa]

Quote:
Well if you put it that way the answer is You will put them outside, when you notice that everthing that comes within 100 feet of your chicken immeadiatly has a coating of chicken dust on it, even the dog will start to look dusty if he doesnt run through the house, that is when the time will be right to move them out. A year from now when you go to have your second batch the fond memmories of chicken dust still being discovered months after the babies have been outside will remind you why the next batch gets brooded outside.

They are dusty little critters aren't they?

 

[needmorechickens!]

You just can't know how dusty they are until you have had them in your own house. Its hard to imagine them producing all that till you've seen it with your own eyes.

~Rebecca

 

[TXmom]

Mine are 4 weeks old and they're outside right now. They don't "live" out there yet, but I let them out in their coop for playtime as much as possible. They get sooooo bored in their brooder in the living room. It's plenty big, but they are still bored. When I let them outside to play, they seem so happy

It was down in the 30's last night....that's why we don't let them stay out over night yet, but it's in the 60's right now.

 

[77horses]

wow...we have two "chicks"(well they look like babies! They are so small! One is a Buff Cochin/Bantam mix and the other is a black EE/Bantam(?)...they are soooo tiny and look like young chicks!!!) EE is 6 months(about), and Buff Cochin is about 5 months...and yes, they are STILL in a brooder box...and they fit, with leftover room! And it's soo hard to think that they are at egg laying age!

I need to get these girls to live in peace with the other flock...quickly.

 

[77horses]

It's because it's soooo cold out right now! High is like 30*F during the day.

And the flock hasn't really accepted them yet....actually the rest of the flock kinda hates them...

But we are working on bonding them.

Wow...I just realized that they must be bored to death in that box....All there is for them to do is eat, poop, drink, scratch around, talk to each other, and take sawdust baths...No wonder they look like they are having so much more fun when they get to come out!

wow...I better start bringing them out more often(when I get the chance; at mom's house for like 2 weeks and I only see them when i go to dad's house...and he doesn't bring the out at all...)

OK sorry for going off topic for a bit.

So I;m thinking that the right time for chicks to start going outside is like 4+ weeks, and if it's cold, bring a heat lamp.

 

[EmptyNest]

I waited until my BCM's were 6 weeks old. They are now in one of my enclosed breeding pens with 2 heat lamps. It is still pretty chilly here in Iowa at night and even some days. After that big of an investment, I didn't want to take any chances.

As for the dust - oh my

I have a room in my basement that I incubate in and have the brooder in. After I moved everyone outside I thoroughly cleaned it (to get ready for the next batch of course

and the amount of dust was amazing.

 

[Akane]

It's suppose to snow for another week here in Iowa so I wouldn't put them out. I'd wait until probably 5-6weeks and only if you have a heat lamp. By then hopefully we'll be done with all the snow and 0F temps and the chicks will be mostly feathered. Without a heat lamp I'd wait until April at least.

 

[cmom]

I start my chicks out at 95 degrees for their first week after hatching. I decrease the temperature 5 degrees per week. At 1 month I try to keep the temp around 75 degrees, 55 degrees at 2 months, 35/40 degrees at 3 months. If the forecast is forecasting frost, I put a heat lamp or two in the coop in one area. They don't usually roost under the lamp/s even when it's freezing out. I have wireless digital thermometers that I put in the coops with the base in the house.