When can the babies go outside?

[avocado]

Hello, I have 3 Rhode Island Whites, 2 boys and a girl. They will be 6 weeks old on Monday. From my research it looks like they can go outside now but I still feel they are too small so they are inside the house with us. We are in Southern England, what do you think we should do?

 

[TexasChicken12]

I'd let them outside for short amounts of time and sit with them as long as it's not too cold.

 

[avocado]

Hi Texas,

Thanks for your reply. I will let them out tomorrowc how long shall I let them stay outside for?

 

[TexasChicken12]

6 weeks is definitely old enough to go out for a while. They can stay out until they are ether to cold or tired. We let ours out when they were a few days old and sat out with them. It was summer here, about 90 outside, so it was pretty hot. They can stay out longer if they stay dry. I don't know how cold it gets there, but they will huddle together when they are cold. That's when you know to bring them back inside. I have never claimed to be an expert on the subject this is just what I think. Hope this helped!

 

[cafarmgirl]

Mine start going outside in a pen for several hours a day at three weeks old, weather permitting of course, and they move into their coop at 5 weeks old. If your birds are 6 weeks old they should be fully feathered and more then ready to move into their coop/run. As long as they have a good coop where they can get out of any weather you may have they'll do fine.

 

[Blooie]

I put mine out April 1st at 5.5 weeks. I had their heat lamp out there and a wireless thermometer. The first night I was up checking constantly. I'd wake up, check the temperature in the coop, and then run out to look in on them. The temp said 20 degrees in the coop. They were fine - all snuggled down in front of the pop door. The second night I only got up once to check on them. They were fine, I was freezing after getting out of my nice warm bed! They weren't even over by side where the heat lamp was - they were back in a feathery pile in front of the pop door. The third day I took the heat lamp out. If they weren't going to use it, I wasn't going to pay for it and risk a fire. That night it snowed. And it snowed many nights thereafter. Our last snowfall was June 6th. They have done beautifully....thriving, active, healthy, and laying well. I decided then and there that they aren't as fragile as we think - we tend to project a lot of our "reasoning" on them and they have their own, which is usually more spot on than ours is. They were even out in the run when it was 18 degrees and snowing. As long as they had a well ventilated, dry, out-of-direct winds spot to go, they did great.

I think it helped that I took them off the brooder lamp the week before and even cracked the window in the room where I kept the brooder. I swear I could almost hear the feathers growing!


The coop wasn't even finished when I moved them out...it was either them or me at that point! The dust was horrible! This picture was taken the second or third day, when I took the lamp out.



This picture was taken the week after I moved them out. They look pretty comfortable despite the 22 degree temperatures.

 

[jtn42248]

They are remarkably resilient creatures. A lot more hardy than we give them credit for. I think we get that cute little fuzzy butt picture in our heads at one day old and that fragile delicate little image stays with us but not with them. So long as they have liquid water, snug shelter and companions to cuddle up with...and the love and affection of their human companion they do just fine.