When can my chicks go outside?

[NewHomesteader]

My 10 chicks are now 7 weeks also. I take them out to play in the tractor (just a cheap 1x2 ?? box and garden fence all the way around.) We have hawks and foxes all over up here. We stay with them. I only keep them out like an hour if it's over 50 degrees.....rarely up here! I have a 100w bulb on them mostly for light since my basement / play room is like 66 degrees. They are crazy dusty so I can't wait for them to go out. It's just so cold in NY that I'll find room in the garage until it's close to last frost..May 15ish.

Have fun with your baby chicks. This is our second batch and we'll never be chickenless again! My 3 year old carries her "special pet" around all over.

 

[briteday]

I put my 32 chicks out 10 days ago when they were three weeks old. They are in a framed chicken wire and lattice brooder in the coop with the big girls. The brooder is on the floor under the roosts for the big girls. We have a tarp (poop hammock!) under the roosts so that the poop doesn't fall into the brooder.

The weather here has been all over since they've gone outside...some daytimes as high as 80 and as low as 45. Nights have been anywhere from 30-50 degrees. They have a 250 watt red lamp with a rheostat so that I can adjust for less heat/light on days when it has been very warm out. I found the rheostat at Home Depot for ~$12. We also have a camera (audio and night vision) from Harbor Freight $30 and a remote temperature sensor from Walmart $10. So from my office in the house I can monitor them visually (hubby hooked up the cam to a $5 tv from the thrift store), know how warm it is under the lamp, and I can adjust the amount of heat they need with the rheostat. Being able to turn the tv on and see if they are huddled under the light has been helpful. I've also placed the feeders and water bottles within the range of the camera so I can monitor when things are running low.

They've been doing fine, seem happy to have a larger space (rabbit cage in the house vs 8' x 4' coop brooder), are very exploratory about the hens and the view to the great outdoors (some days have been warm enough to leave the big doors to the shed open), ...generally happy little girls. I had a bit of feather picking yesterday when the red light bulb burned out and I had to pinch hit for one day with a white light bulb. I would suggest keeping and extra 250 watt red bulb on hand just in case. That's also the nice thing about the camera and temp sensor...I can see if the temps go really low and observe the behavior so I knew right away that the bulb had gone out and the birds were getting cold.

After brooding chicks in the house for the last 3 years, and keeping them in until they are about 8-10 weeks old (big enough to take care of themselves with the existing hens), I really needed to find a better way. The brooder boxes were always in our office where are computers reside and that is definitely not a good combination. Not to mention the amount of dust generated cannot be healthy for the birds or the humans.

So I vote for putting chicks outside if you can, but have plenty of backup for keeping them warm, fed, watered, and supervised. If you can't do that then keep them inside until the are physically large enough to put with existing hens.

 

[Mary_Ann]

I think you just answered my question. Your chicks are in your basement, except for the hour outings, until they are old enough to join the big girls?? I have 2 wk chicks in my dining room, would love to keep them in my sun room except the heat last week hit 102 in there and I was worried they would die. So the dining room has been the "home" for the past week. If I can keep them in the basement until they are old enough to fend for themselve it would make life easier. (I had 7 full grown hens in my basement for a month during the blizzards of 2010 here in MD - and 2 German shepherds asking to PLEASE open the basement door!) It's my first time raising chicks and I want to do the best I can for them.

 

[jacob long]

HI


i have no idea how old my chicks are they are starting to get there feathers and i put them out a few days ago and its pretty warm now here in rossville ga and i have a heat lamp on them in there cage and was wondering when they dont need the heat lamp and when i can put them in with the big chickens i have 7 babys


thanks
jacob

 

[kiz1959]

My four chicks are eight weeks old now. They have been out in a rabbit hauch in my covered run for two weeks now and they love it.I still put a lamp in there for an hour but I turn it off once their asleep.I do give them a heat pad on cold nights. Its nice and warm and draft free for them in the hutch. They go mad to be let out every morning. I even let them into the main run for a little while every day while the hens are having a treat on my lawn. The chicks love exploring in the big girls home.

 

[Legend]

hi sorry to jump in with question but does this apply if they have a mummy. I live in England and right now it is cold and wet see days. Mine go out in the day with their mum and have done since one week old. They have never had a heat lamp. I hope they will be ok.

 

[V-NH]

Everyone seems to have a different way that they do it. I remove the heat from my chicks after about 3 weeks and put them outside a few days after that. My first flock went outside when they were around 4 weeks old, without a heat lamp in the coop, and it was still getting down into the 20s at night. I didn't lose a single one of them. It's really all up to you how you want to proceed. After raising a couple of flocks this way so far, I'm going to keep doing it. The sooner I can get them out of the brooder and into the run, the better. A lot of people believe that they should be kept inside for 6-8 weeks, but that just seems way too long to me.

 

[lacymorgan]

I have 29 chicks in the house right now and really need to move them outside soon. I have an ecoglow 50 brooder heat plate and power out in the coop

The coop is a 6 by 4 with three chick brooder areas on each side.wood on two sides which are permanant and one side with a removable wall and the the one wall is open but still completely out of the wind but it gets into the 30.s at night. So my question is with an eco glow 50 and 29 chicks can I put them outside yet?

 

[lacymorgan]

PS they are 8 days old

 

[Sheldonfamily]

I have no idea how old my chickens are we got him from a family farm and home place working I believe I have one chick that is seems to be fully feathered one chick that has a little bit of baby feathers on its head then I've got another one he's got baby feathers on its head and almost halfway down its back the chicks are starting to make me sick apparently I have a chicken feather allergy I need to know when is the absolute soonest I can put them out with out a heat lamp and nobody told me that baby chicks can smell like rotten meat oh my goodness but I'm still loving it so is my daughter