what age do you put your chicks outside

[aquaponics3712]

I have my 4 week old and my 2 week olds inside with a heat lamp at night and I take them outside during the day. I have 15 babies in all and they huddle together if they get chilled. The temps here are 85 during the day and 69 at night. I am not as concerned about the temps as I am predators. My husband has killed 2 rat snakes in our yard this month and I have seen a fox in my yard 2 mornings in a row. So, I don't want the babies out at night until they are older. They LOVE it outside though. I have put some limbs into their run and they are "flying" up onto them as though they were trees...SO cute! I wish I could sit outside all day and just watch them! What kind of fencing can deter a fox? I want to find a solution before I take these babies out to stay.

 

[EggLover5]

1/2" hardware cloth. Very strong and will keep predators as small as a snake out.

We have a friend with an incubator who hatched some of our eggs recently and brought us some of the chicks. Totally cool! They are in a big plastic bin with the lid off in my bathroom, but they are starting to jump out. We have 7 hens and 3 roosters in a 8'x8' coop/run outside and would like to put the chicks out there, but I'm worried about the cold and the roosters. Is this an issue? I can put a heat lamp in the coop for cooler nights.

 

[EggLover5]

This is the coop where the chicks would go. It is just starting to cool down at night (55-ish and lower) but 70's during the day. Again, not sure how the other chickens will treat the chicks as this is my first time doing this. Should I construct a separate area for the chicks?

 

[EggLover5]

Oops! Almost forgot to show u all my chicks!

 

[piopio123]

I have had chicks in the house everyday for the LAST 5 years...
Right now I have a bin with 7 that are about 7 weeks old they will move out in a week when the cochins in the incubator hatch. And I have a bin with 6 chicks that are about 3 weeks old.

My Hubby Loves Me very very Much we have been married 28+ years..

NO I do not keep all the chicks I hatch.. I only pick the very best to keep of these 13 chicks I will be keeping 7
and as they get older I may decied to sell even more.

Hi there,
that is adorably intense, all those chicks.

I see that you are from NY. Where about? I am currently in Western Mass and as of yet not having luck with finding WHERE to get the chicks or pullets once we would like them (I am still trying to figure out what would be the best month considering their age and the temperature, because if we have to keep them inside at all it shouldn't be for very long as we are in an apartment unit in a large house.) Anyway I wonder where you are located because we occasionally go to NY and you say you have chicks everyday all year?! I am new to this and so I am unsure when precisely we would bring them home, as I said. If they are older then probably sooner because then they could STAY out sooner, if younger then probably once fairly WARM weather hits so they will not have to spend tooo much time inside. So obviously either way it probably would not be immediate but I am just so excited!
Did you follow all that?

 

[piopio123]

Oops! Almost forgot to show u all my chicks!

So Cute! How long do you keep them all in there?

 

[dekel18042]

I have 9 chicks that will be six weeks old Friday (In two more days) that are still living in our sunroom.
We have a pen with a heat lamp set up in our unheated garage. Can they be moved into the garage as is?
My husband thinks it is too cold and wants to get a second heat lamp or utilize a space heater.
How would you proceed?

 

[lazy gardener]

By now, you should have weaned them down to 65 - 70 degrees. Are they fully feathered? Don't kick yourself if you haven't weaned them down from the warmer temperature. The important thing is to progress from where you are at. I had a hard time weaning my chicks last spring because I was too soft on them. If they are fully feathered, but still dependent on the lamp, you might work on decreasing the temp daily, and even turn the lamp off for a few hours every day, until they don't seem to need it any more. No, it's not too soon to move them to the garage. Just give them a bit of heat there and they will do fine. Some folks... a lot of folks, never brood chicks in the house, and they do fine as long as they have enough heat. Generally, by the time they are fully feathered, they should do ok with out a heat lamp.

 

[hens number1]

I let my baby chicks out at 8 weeks which was way to early. At first I would take them out for a little while then put them back in. Also they still need heat when they first come out so it is beat to get them late spring. So that by the time they come out it will be warm.

 

[hens number1]

A great fox fence is an electric fence. Not one of my Chickens have died. Also you do not have to worry about closing the coop door.