Topic of the Week - Moving Chicks Outside

[3KillerBs]

My chicks are 4.5 weeks and im planning on moving them to a brooder in the coop in a week or two. I do have a rooster in my flock.. should i be concerned about integration with a rooster? We can move him to his own location if we have to BUT…. Was hoping to integrate this next flock of four with the hens and the rooster at the same time.

While there are no guarantees with live animals, roosters are generally much better with chicks than the hens are. I've had a 7-month cockerel "babysitting" 4-week chicks in their integration pen and I've seen the 5 and 6 week-old chicks running right underneath a rooster to get clear of a hen that was chasing them.

 

[Millsa]

While there are no guarantees with live animals, roosters are generally much better with chicks than the hens are. I've had a 7-month cockerel "babysitting" 4-week chicks in their integration pen and I've seen the 5 and 6 week-old chicks running right underneath a rooster to get clear of a hen that was chasing them.

This is so interesting. I just took the chicks out in my cat carrier to have a little bit of time outside and see everyone from the safety of the box… the rooster made the most noise and seemed to be afraid of the chicks. The hens were curious. I think i will move them out into the brooder-in-the-coop this weekend .. and after a week give them a chance to free range with everyone “supervised of course” and see what happens. They can totally squeeze out between the tractor supply run area but the larger run area is surrounded in hardware cloth. Will have to be careful of hawks and will likely only let them free range until they are larger.. the hawks nest is right above our whole coop/run But my rooster does a good job and the hawks are SMALL Cooper Hawk i think? Anyway - the small chicks would make nice food for the hawk so i will supervise until they are older. And other wise keep them inside the tractor supply thing as best i can with bricks and what noT.

 

[NevadaEmma]

This is the first coop my husband made for us. It is a chicken tractor and is about 10 years old; has seen many chicks and chickens over the years.

I now use it for chicks transitioning from the house to outside. He wired it for electricity so it has two lamps in the upstairs area. I usually use 90W red reptile bulbs. When the weather gets better, or as they feather out more, I turn off one then all of the heat.

When it is not used as any outside brooder, it is often a safe space for hens hatching and raising their chicks. She gets to show off her brood without having to worry about any harm from the other chickens or predators.

Sometimes it is a temporary rooster holding pen.

When no one is actually living in it, the hens love to use the nesting boxes for their eggs.

We have three coops of various sizes, this being the smallest. It is always fun to see where the girls are laying their eggs. I only have one hen that will only lay in our second coop which is the one she grew up in. She is in her third year of laying, and she lays HUGE eggs!

 

[Millsa]

This is the first coop my husband made for us. It is a chicken tractor and is about 10 years old; has seen many chicks and chickens over the years.

I now use it for chicks transitioning from the house to outside. He wired it for electricity so it has two lamps in the upstairs area. I usually use 90W red reptile bulbs. When the weather gets better, or as they feather out more, I turn off one then all of the heat.

When it is not used as any outside brooder, it is often a safe space for hens hatching and raising their chicks. She gets to show off her brood without having to worry about any harm from the other chickens or predators.

Sometimes it is a temporary rooster holding pen.

When no one is actually living in it, the hens love to use the nesting boxes for their eggs.

We have three coops of various sizes, this being the smallest. It is always fun to see where the girls are laying their eggs. I only have one hen that will only lay in our second coop which is the one she grew up in. She is in her third year of laying, and she lays HUGE eggs!

This is cute but im really in awe of that CRAZY frost you are having! Holy cow!

 

[NevadaEmma]

Yes, isn't that something? They call it Pogonip here. It is frozen fog and does not happen often. I took the picture for the pogonip, not for the coop. It is magical when it happens and the sun is brilliantly shining.

 

[Millsa]

Yes, isn't that something? They call it Pogonip here. It is frozen fog and does not happen often. I took the picture for the pogonip, not for the coop. It is magical when it happens and the sun is brilliantly shining.

That is stunning! Thanks so much for sharing!

 

[GrayBlackbird]

I have brooded indoors, weaned chicks off heat by 4-5 weeks and I move them out to coop at 5 weeks, no heat source. All the various breeds/sizes have done fine with lows in the 30's which is inevitable here if you start them early.
In the USA, the roller coaster weather this spring has had a lot of people anxious about moving their chicks to coop. There have been warm days, then snowstorms, over and over. My chicks this year experienced snow at 5 1/2 weeks, and they were unfazed. Hopefully we are past that now. Happy spring everyone!

We are in the midwest and we started in jan
Put them out over a mo th ago still dipping into the 20s. These were jersey giants and mystic onyx. The smaller bantam breeds hatched March I put outside about 2 wks ago if it got onto the 20s I brought part of them in that were less then 85% feathered (silkie and frizzle) we havent had any problems they are loving having more room to run around

 

[Loveshorsesandglee]

I just moved my seven new chicks outside yesterday still keeping them separated from the older chickens for a while longer but they can see each other through the fence. They are loving being outside and having more room they were starting to get crowded in the brooder inside.

 

[SituationalLefty]

This is my first brood of babies and I am surprised by how quickly they grew from fluffy little balls into scrawny looking adolescents that are partly feathered. They're in a spare room in our house, and they come out twice a day to walk around the room and fly and stretch their legs. We have tarps everywhere so that the room doesn't get ruined. I'm thinking it's going to be time pretty soon to put them out so that they can enjoy themselves and get used to the coop. This is such a useful thread. Thanks to everyone who's posted.

On another note, I think they've imprinted on me. I sit with them while they're out of the brooder and they love to come and sit on my shoulder and hang out on my arms and legs. It's a lot of fun. And hang out on my arms and legs. I've kept parrots before, but never expected to have this kind of experience with chickens.

 

[NevadaEmma]

Try a baby gosling! They are so loving.