What age to allow chicks to roam the yard?

[Elflady]

I let mine in the run around 3 weeks.

Watch out for hawks. There everywhere!

 

[Elflady]

Expand on "backyard" for me.
Fenced? Coop & run? Free range?
What preditors are in your area?

Hawks, coons, opossum.

 

[3 NH reds]

Hawks, coons, opossum.

For us it has been a bear that tore osb board away from a coop and ate the rooster and 2 hens. Last week we lost an old hen 10 feet from the house mid day. Turned out to be a coyote that I Think was rabid. My wife and dog chased it off the next day, she won't kill just not her. A few minutes later she heard shooting and we have not seen the coyote again.

 

[MBGone]

I have always depended on the weather esp. at night. If temperatures are still in the high 30s or even low 40s, I keep them in until night temps are hovering at about 45-50. I also don't depend on age as much as size, to make sure that they can get in and out of the hen house with a ramp. Some years I've had to wait until they were 5 weeks or so. Then I "introduce" them to my big hens by keeping them in an oversize dog crate in the chicken coop for two or three days, they can see each other, smell, etc. (Often it's quite a shock for all concerned). However, once they're out and about in the yard, I don't worry about what they eat, I figure they'll figure it out. If these are your first chickens, good luck - and when you're ready, ask about perch training. That's a lot of fun!

I've got the summer to learn about winter temps & loss of daylight so... I'll hold off on that for now.
This is my first flock (6 hens) I didn't even know that there was such a thing as perch training.
Go ahead and point me to the right article to get that lesson started. I'm pretty sure that my head is about to start spinning.

 

[MBGone]

Sorry if this is a repeat. Too busy to read them all! It's snake season as well.Two week chicks are small enough to be swallowed up by a snake. The half inch hardware cloth is pretty good for this predator.
Crows: They come down and steal baby chicks as well. They likely will not be stopped by the string method for the usual aerial predators.

There is nothing like sunshine and fresh air, but one thing I do to make the indoors better for the new chicks is to dig up, say, a dandelion, roots, dirt and all, and put it in a plastic dish from a frozen dinner with water. I put this in the brooder and it is always the biggest hit among the chicks. They peck the plant and the dirt, likely getting bacteria from the outdoors to inoculate their immune systems. Besides, a blooming dandelion looks so pretty in their pen! It lasts a few days and is easy to replace.

OH NO! I hadn't even considered the crows!!!! Dang, it looks as though I chosen a species that is awfully near the bottom of the food chain.
I'm going to have to quit my day job and oil up the shotgun

 

[MBGone]

I think chicks can eat grass and bugs at any age. The biggest issue is predators, integrating with older chickens, and getting them used to going back in their house at night. My chicks went out to the hen house at 3 weeks after I read an excellent article on this website about creating a heating pad den for warmth and providing protection from the hens until they are old enough to fend for themselves. It has worked so much better than keeping them in a box with a heat lamp. At first I gave them outings in the grass in a dog cage lined with chicken wire, with a small box for shade along with their regular food and water. Then at 5 weeks I created a separate door in the hen house that leads to a protected fenced enclosure in an adjacent grassy patch. But I keep an eye on them since we have hawks, snakes, foxes, and cats in the area. I hope that helps.

I like your separate door idea. Thank you

 

[MBGone]

Some, well maybe a lot of folks don't like crows. I started feeding the local crows years ago when I saw they chase a large hawk off. Now I grab a slice or two of bread, break it up, walk outside and call them. They must have excellent hearing because they show up very quickly. I like to watch them gather up the pieces of bread. They pick up one piece and carry it over to another. They pick up those two pieces and then to another. They gather up as much or more than their beak can hold. They are very smart. I lost a litter of bunnies in a freeze. We had Flush Clean Trays that hung under the rabbit cages. I was flushing the trays into the pasture when I spotted the dead litter. I dropped on in the tray and flushed it out for the birds (recycling). A crow picked it up and put it down a couple feet away. Then I flushed another, then another and so on. The crow came back to that same spot and waited for each one. When there was no more it then gathered up it's stash and few away with it. All this being said, the crows nest close to our farm. Mostly in the Eucalyptus trees and in the Cottonwood trees.

My husband was coming out of the barn one day, when he walked into the breezeway just outside the door, he saw the chickens running for the cover to the breezeway with a large hawk at their tails. Just before the hawk grabbed one a crow hit it from behind, it flew off without the chicken! My husband said this all happened very quickly. We see hawks fly over all the time with crows right behind them. So, I feed the crows!

Well, thank you for the unexpected twist that you had on the crows. Perhaps that's the right angle to take. The crows can watch out for hawks better than I can.

 

[danceswithronin]

Watch out for hawks. There everywhere!

Oh for sure, they only get outside time alone in a covered run.

 

[Elfer]

Hawks, coons, opossum.

No skunks?

 

[trudyg]

skunks are a kind of weasel, so anywhere a slinky weasel can get to, so can a skunk.