What do I do with these chicks?

[smccuen]

Mine have been happy and safe outside in a little open hutch set inside a 10x10 ft pen set up within a larger fenced area where the grown hens free range. The chicks are now 3 1/2 weeks old and they've been fine outside for the last week alongside a similar set-up for four mallard ducklings the same age. They are hardy and healthy - no heat lamps needed once they moved outside. The ducks and chicks can see and hear one another but the 2 1/2 foot high fencing separates them and keeps the water play of the ducks from wetting the chicks' side of things. The temporary pens will come down in another couple of weeks - when they are less likely to try and squeeze through the outer fence and they and the hens have had more time to acclimate to each other.
The night time lows have been in the low to mid 40s and the highs into the 70s most days. During a rainy day yesterday they stayed under their roofs. They are not so fragile as we may fear.

 

[debid]

You can push more when you have a good sized group to snuggle and preserve heat at night. Someone with three or four should not transition them to outdoors without heat before the chicks have feathers. They might survive it or they might chill to death. I get what you're saying and I entirely agree that most folks overheat their chicks and are overly cautious. Just be mindful that there are a few looking for someone to affirm that chicks don't need supplemental heat and they will do something inadvisable thinking that you said it was OK.

I follow a mama hen's example, myself. I brood outside in a small coop and only heat an area the size of a hen. The chicks leave the heat and run around the brooder space, returning to the heat to rest. Around one week, the pop door is opened and they have access to a run. I find that the chicks feather quickly and are happy/healthy. They choose when to sleep on a little roost (not under the lamp) and that is when the light is switched off.