What age?

[Tiffchick88]

When are chicks able to start living in coop. My are almost 5 weeks old now and their full of feathers and becoming way more active and noisy now. at what age and stage are they allowed to start livingout side? I have a play area where I let them out into daily so they can experience the out side world.

 

[wamtazlady]

I put mine outside at 2 weeks. At that age I don't feel as if they need checked up on so frequently. They go into a small coop that is out on my screened in porch. They get to experience the cool or cold weather as well as still having their Mama's heating pad in case they need a bit or warmth.

 

[bruceha2000]

The generic answer is "when they are fully feathered". That is USUALLY by 4 weeks but some birds might be slower. Please add your general location to your profile so questions like this can more easily be answered. 5 weeks should be plenty old enough to be outside, especially if you live somewhere relatively warm.

I've not had winter chicks, the earliest I have had them was last year's batch of 7 that arrived the end of April. They were out in the barn with their Mama Heating Pad cave at 3 days (the day after they were delivered). Low temps in the 30's, highs in the 50s-60s.
This is a picture of the 4 week old chicks on a 55°F day. Note that some of them were slow to feather, notably the black and white Exchequer Leghorns. They started wandering out the alpacas' door (some 40' from the door into the brooder area of the coop) when they were 3 weeks old. And it was not a straight shot. To get where they are in this picture they came down the barn alley to just the other side of that wall, turned and went 10', came out the door then 10' back to where you see them here.