When did you put your babies out?

[JenniferJoIN]

Due to space concerns, my DB and I decided to put our chicks out into their coop when they were a little less than 3 weeks old. The coop is actually a room in the garage. They love all the space and love going outside, free-ranging (We only let them out while we're home, until they get bigger) and even go in on their own when it starts to get dark. (We lock them up every night after a double head count)

So my question is: When do you guys normally put your chicks out into the 'real world' or when would you ideally like to put them out?

Just a fun kind of way for me to see what the norm is!

 

[mdbucks]

Depends on the weather, first set came in feb and they didn't go out till about 6 weeeks old, when we could no longer stand the dust, and they were trying so hard to fly out of brooder every time thay got a chance. The second sset we got in may and they went straight to the coop/not with older birds but in thier own side. No more in the house chicks.
They didn't get real outside for a couple of weeks. outside during the day but back into coop at night.

 

[BantyChickMom]

I typically put mine out about 4-6 weeks old.
When I received my order of 30 in July, the brooder box was
set up outside because it was so big, but they were under a light.
At about 1 month old, I put them in a 8 x 12 pen, but I still had a light on at night until they were about 2 months old.

 

[mdbucks]

I didn't mean I just put mine out there, they had heat lamp till temp didn't drop below where they needed temp to be.

 

[JenniferJoIN]

Yep... the heat lamp is still on mine too, just in case. Seeing how big mine are, I can't imagine them being in the house until they were 6 weeks old!

 

[Dawn419]

Our day-olds were indoors until they were 6 weeks old since we didn't have the main coop/run ready for them. We bought and modified a Chick-N-Barn/Yard to keep them in until we could finish their main home.

It was fun having them indoors but the dust was unbelievable...DH was so cool about it that I'll not brood indoors again, if I can help it, anyways...

Dawn

 

[silkiechicken]

It depends on the weather here too. I just watch for their body style but they get kicked out of the house at 1 week old, and kicked out of the outdoor brooder at 4 weeks, and kicked out of the grow pen at about 3 months to suck it up with the adults.

 

[Rebel Chicken]

It depends on what time of year it is for overnight temps. I put mine outside generally between 6-8 weeks. I did have some chickens that stayed inside until nearly 15 weeks. They had their own room and generally enjoyed being inside more. They did go outside periodicly though. Also, they went outside permanently after a while. Got too messy too often.