What's inbetween Brooder and Coop???

[4theloveofhens]

My almost three week old chicks (1 bantam cochin, 2 red sex links, 1 wyandotte) are getting too "hyper" for their 1.5 x 3 feet brooder. What does everyone do at this point? Right now they are in the bathroom (since I am slightly illegal) and we have to keep them on the Down Low until we move at the end of July. I definitely want to move them outside as soon as they are old enough, but we're not sure if they go straight into their coop from their brooder at six weeks??

Thanks!

 

[gryeyes]

Well, you can give them little day trips outside, if you wish. Many folks do that. (But you have to put them somewhere safe, and from which you can gather them up again to go back into the brooder.)

If these are the only chickens you have (no older ones out in the coop ahead of them), then yes, they go straight to the coop. You MAY keep a heat lamp - tightly secured!! - in there for additional heating if the nights are cold.

 

[4theloveofhens]

Quote:
But does that mean they are in a brooder until they are six weeks old? Or can we move them out to a coop that has a heat lamp earlier?

 

[gryeyes]

Yes, you can make your coop, or a section of the coop, into a brooder, by all means.

 

[Tala]

Mine go into a tractor pen before they are old enough to sleep in the big coop. I can rig a lamp in there, and I do put chicks out VERY young. After they have been in there a few weeks, they know it's home and you can let them out (if your yard is safe) and they will return to it at night just like the adults return to their coop at night.

 

[catterbug]

I found a big box and put my 5 week old chickens in it. I also just moved the box to the garage since the nights are in the 60's here and they are feathered up to their necks so I stopped using the heat lamp. They are doing just fine. It is so much nicer in the garage because I can take them outside much easier to play for a little while instead of having to drag them from the basement outside.