When to make the move?

[Katok8607]

We currently have 4 4 wk olds, and 6 2 wk old chicks in a brooder on heat. I was wondering when would be ok to move the brooder into our coop, obviously still keeping them on heat but allowing them to roam freely as well. Our temps have been 30-40 at night and 50-70 during the day. The two pics are of the brooder they're in that we want to move to the coop (almost complete).

 

[lazy gardener]

As long as you can assure that they will have adequate heat under the lamp when you get those low night time temps. Any way to do a trial?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Get them out now. Especially with different age chicks the sooner you put them together the better, especially with the space they'll have in the coop.
Mine go out into the brooder house when they come out of the hatcher unless it's below the teens inside the building.

 

[Ridgerunner]

You can brood them in that coop since you don’t have any adults yet. Just provide a warm spot they can go to if they need to. With the ages of yours I’d leave them locked in the coop for two or three weeks so they think of it as home and so the younger ones are better feathered out.

My brooder is in the coop. I put day-olds in it yesterday with temperatures in the 20’s Fahrenheit. One end of my 3’ x 6’ brooder is pretty toasty but the other end cools off quite a bit. The chicks don’t care what the temperature is outside the brooder and they don’t mind it being cool inside the brooder as long as they can go warm up if they need to.

 

[Katok8607]

All 10 are together and happy in the brooder right now. They've been together since the 6 younger ones were 4 days old. I'm just curious if we move the brooder and heat into the coop now if it's too early for the younger 6 I know the older 4 should be good. Also should we cut a hole in the brooder for the youngers to get out and roam the coop or just leave the top off and let them fly out when old enough?

 

[Katok8607]

We plan on keeping them strictly in the coop til at least they're 20 wks old since we have a lot of Hawks, coyotes, racoons and other predators.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I don’t know how big that coop is, but pretend the coop is the brooder. At that age just put some heat in one corner without burning it down and they are good to go. At that age do not put a brooder in there that they can fly out of. They may get stuck out of it and not be able to figure out how to get back to the heat if they need it. Don’t create a trap that can get chicks killed.

 

[Katok8607]

It's 8x8 and 6ft tall. Would a ladder for them to get in and out be okay? Also not sure if this makes a difference at what age to move them but we have 2 dogs as well.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I’m calling the closed-in part the coop and the fenced in part the run. I’m not sure we are talking about the same thing. I’d keep them locked in the closed-in coop part for a few weeks.

I don’t know how high that closed in part is off the ground, but a ladder, ramp, or even an intermediate step will work. I’ve seen two week old chicks fly vertically up and three feet horizontal without a problem. It was obvious watching them that they could go a lot further if they wanted to.

The first few nights after you let them into the run section, they may decide to sleep at the foot of that ladder instead of going into the coop section. Mine do that a lot the first few nights. I just go down there at dark and toss them inside. Some catch on immediately but some occasionally take a week or even two to figure out they are supposed to go inside to sleep.

 

[Katok8607]

I new to chicks/chickens I guess I didn't know the right terms lol. So I guess what we have is a straight run since the only enclosed part besides the run is the nest box. Perhaps these pics will help? This is our brooder that is currently in our mud room.

What I want to do is move the brooder into our run, and allow them access to roam freely.

The run will be completed (door, feeder, waterer) this weekend regardless. I was just curious if based on the lows being between 30-40 if it would be okay to move the brooder with heat into the run and if it's okay to give them a way in and out of the brooder to roam freely in the run.