When chicks are able to be left outside

[NC Chick Man82]

I myself leave my chicks out from time I get them at a day old no more than a week old... I have heat lamp outside a brooder tilted to heat the inside, inside the coop that is surrounded by netting filled with much older birds. This is during the slightly cold to warmer months (temps 50-70+) the brooder seems to keep pretty warm even when temps outside are pretty cold and the chicks show no sign of being cold (huddle together) they just carry on a normal chick life inside a brooder... Does anyone else do this? I always read things bout chicks need to be at least 2 months old or around there before they are put outside... why? My birds are well grown now and free range all day then go back to coop at dusk when dusk to dawn light comes on, I see NO negative affects of the way I raised my birds they are happy, friendly, and very healthy.

 

[five is my dog]

i would wait until they are fully feathered and don't need there light. but if it does go down to about 50-60 i would would bring them inside.

 

[mithious]

I agee totally!!! I don't get this "not till such and such week old"....it makes no sense to me. Maybe the difference is pets and livestock thinking? I really don't know.

My daughter free ranges her chickens and one went off and came back with 16 chicks in tow...so a coop would seem much safer than the woods to brood a bunch of chicks, even with Mamma doing it

I just think it's a matter of opinion also. I also don't name my chickens, My late Dad always told me not to name my food

and I plan on raising chickens for eggs and meat!

As for a difference in how they are taken care of...either way seems sufficient!

I would've brooded mine in their coop, had it been done when they got here! Next year I am going to brood 6 Dominiques right in the coop, separated of course...unless I have a broody hen that will adopt them, but I have hatchery chicks, so prolly not till the year after. I heard hatchery chicks don't usually go broody, but we will see

Mine are now 2 weeks and 2 days and they are going out to their coop as soon as I can paint the coop and it dries! They have no light now, and sleep all night, eat great during the day, and less fighting!!! Their feathering out great too!

 

[NC Chick Man82]

the dusk to dawn is on the coop outside corner its not that they need it but its there regardless...

 

[RonC]

The temperature has a lot to do with when they can go out. Such and such week is the average time for them to get their feathers.Till they are feathered they have trouble regulating their body temperature without a down lined coat on. Having a broody hen that takes care of them they can get under mom to warm up. Yes some people are too attached to their "babies" too and wait longer times and some breeds take longer to get their feathers. Mine had all their feathers except on their heads when they moved outside. It still got chilly at night and they all huddled together in the bedding. They never started using their roosts till the weather warmed up at night.
Most hybrid breeds don't get broody because it's bred out of them. Their purpose in life is to lay as many eggs as they can without hatching them. Heritage breeds will go broody even if they are from a hatchery. Some breeds more so than others.

 

[NC Chick Man82]

I can understand if the chicks got to where they shown signs of being cold I wouldn't just leave them there to freeze to death or to point it was harmful to their health... My birds go out with no feathers during the temps i listed earlier and stay in brooder for bout month at most then are let out of brooder and introduced to older birds a few times a day while free ranging... then after a week or so of the older birds chasing them and the chicks running away it tends to calm down and they begin to allow one another around each other and at that point i let the chicks stay with older birds from then on

 

[NC Chick Man82]

Thank you Mithious for your views as well

 

[mithious]

The temperature has a lot to do with when they can go out. Such and such week is the average time for them to get their feathers.Till they are feathered they have trouble regulating their body temperature without a down lined coat on. Having a broody hen that takes care of them they can get under mom to warm up. Yes some people are too attached to their "babies" too and wait longer times and some breeds take longer to get their feathers. Mine had all their feathers except on their heads when they moved outside. It still got chilly at night and they all huddled together in the bedding. They never started using their roosts till the weather warmed up at night.
Most hybrid breeds don't get broody because it's bred out of them. Their purpose in life is to lay as many eggs as they can without hatching them. Heritage breeds will go broody even if they are from a hatchery. Some breeds more so than others.

I am sure I can get a heat lamp, in the coop, next year to keep the chicks warm enough...I have double walls and double floors on the coop, so should be fine! Plus will use a brooder box for the first few weeks, or until they show they don't need it.

I got hatchery BR's, and they are considered a heritage breed, so maybe I WILL get lucky and get atleast one to go broody next spring!!! Mine are getting their body feathers already...only their heads are still fluffy, but I think that's due to it being summer and them not needing a heat light, or any light for the past 3-4 days. Love sleeping again!!! Still can't wait for the coop to dry, almost there, so I can paint it and get them out in their coop!!!!

I have read articles that say the BR's DO go broody and others that say no from hatchery, so I guess I will have to wait to find out which one is true. Mine have had their wing feathers for a week now and tail feathers started almost at the same time...except the cockerels...no more fluff balls.

I still plan to brood right in the coop and would have done so, if mine had been ready. I don't see a difference in the chicks that are brooded outside in garages, coops, to those in houses...as long as you can get the heat lamp right, in the cooler weather and keep the drafts off.

This is the first time I have done this in the summer...and I will never do it in my cabin again!!! What a mess!!!

I used to do the deep bed method, before it was popular too

Had no idea that it was a good thing, just didn't want to clean the coop in the middle of winter, so just threw more on top!!! LOL

 

[NC Chick Man82]

I took a piece of (painters) plastic and covered up half of the front of the brooder in the colder nights and left heat lamp shining in on the other side. The front of the brooder is the only open side the other three sides are 3/4" plywood... I'm not saying that my way of bringing up my chicks is the best way or the way anyone else should do it if they dont feel comfortable doing it all im saying is thats how i do it and my birds turned out fine and healthy. I vacc for mareks and let em go!

 

[OzarkCountryGirl]

I tend to base the care of young on how their natural mothers would raise them. As long as she wasn't prevented from doing so, I don't know of a single hen that would stay in a coop and not take her chicks outside until they were two weeks old, much less two months.

So as long as it's relatively warm and not freezing cold outside, my incubator hatched chicks go out a day or two after they hatch (just as they would if they were hatched out naturally), although they go out in a "chick" tractor, to which I have a heat lamp in one corner so they can get under the light if they need to, especially if the weather is cooler than 85°F. If temps are above that during the day, I don't even bother turning on the lamp as they totally ignore that area of the tractor the entire time they are out, however I always put them in the brooder at night. Although I've yet to put any eggs in the incubator this year, as my Silkie has gone broody several times so I've just been letting her hatch out the eggs and she free-ranges the chicks from day one.