When can meat birds come out from under the lights?

[tinkarooni]

I have some broilers from Meyer Hatchery. They will be two weeks old tomorrow. They are starting to feather out but have some bald patches too. I have portable chicken tractors to put them in with a sheltered area and hardware cloth all around. Todays daytime temp will be 80 degrees. Can they go out, at least during the day. What about if it rains? Roof on the tractor but they still might get wet. They are currently in my basement and I really want to get them out. All advice welcome. Thanks!

 

[RendonRoo]

At two weeks they still need to have a heat source of at least 80 degrees. You can decrease that by 5 degrees a week until they are about 5 weeks old. By then they should have most of their feathers and will be able to stay warm on their own. I think outside would be fine during the day but they shouldn't get damp because it could chill them too much. Good Luck

 

[SimplyForties]

It's all about the temperature. Where do you live? Your birds will tell you when they are too cold by huddling up together or too hot by spreading out. If they are staying out from under the heat lamp or, if you turn the heat lamp off and they are moving around happily without huddling up, they're find. I turned my heat lamp off at about 2 weeks but it's very hot where I live.

 

[tinkarooni]

Western PA. It has been hitting 80 and above here during the day but cooler at night. I don't think the night time temps of 50-60 are warm enough yet but maybe the daytime temps. Also is there any concern with disease with putting them right into the grass? As previously posted I have some fancy new chicken tractors just waiting for them.

 

[RendonRoo]

Just make sure they have grit available before they go to the grass. I would still bring them in at night for another week or two.