When Can my Cornish X go outside?

[blackvelvet]

I ordered 25 cornish x from welp hatchery. They are almost 2 weeks old. I live in Tennessee so we still have some cold days all the way up to april. But I was wondering when my chicks are 3 or 4 weeks old could they go out in my tractor?

 

[Bubbles_erin]

I need to know the same. i am in Washington and we have been getting snow lately. Right now the chicks are 1 week 3 days old. They are getting big already. I want them to have a good growth rate but not the troubles of normal CX chicks. So we have taken away the all day feeders and are going to have 4 set feeding times a day for the next week or two and then put it down to 3 (breakfast, lunch and dinner) so I dont have to get up and feed them in the middle of the night. I figured in the next day or two I would start grabbing handfuls of grass for them to eat too since its too cold outside right now and also a few worms from my composter. I plan on putting them in a tractor with wind blocks and maybe a heat lamp if they get cold at about 4-6 weeks depending on the weather and their feathering. Let us know what you figure out for yours.

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

I put mine out when they were just over 3 weeks old. They had a very secure coop, with no drafts at all and they huddled together for warmth. I didn't lose any.

 

[MamaHumbird]

We tried a batch that hatched at the end of October last fall. They did pretty good until we moved them outside from the lean to. They basically stopped growing. They were 5 weeks old. They were in a dog kennel type pen with plastic on top to protect them from the rain/snow and plastic on the north side. Once we realized that we were doing something wrong, we put a heat lamp out there. They started doing alot better. They started growing but it was hard to keep their water from freezing at night. We learned a valuable lesson-they are seasonal. We are only going to raise them in the spring and fall. In the early spring, maybe it wouldn't be as bad as it was in the early winter. They should be able to go out at 3 weeks, weather permitting.

 

[mstricer]

Quote:
All of that is not necessary at around 7 days old you can feed them 12 hours on and 12 hrs off. I plan on trying to put mine out at 3 wks with heat lamps and such.

 

[bigredfeather]

Quote:
You can safely move them out when they are mostly feathered out and night temps are above freezing. Three weeks is when I typically move mine out.

 

[lawnman]

Im in middle Tennessee and I put mine out at 3 weeks also