When to move out the chicks?

[henry19952]

I received 16 Buff Orpington hens from Mt. Healthy and they are now 1 1/2 weeks old. We live in North Florida, and the weather varies from the high 70's to low 30's. When is it O.K. to move them out to the the coop (Which is open faced on one side)? THEY ARE MESSY!!!

 

[welasharon]

Hi! Welcome to BYC. I am in North Florida too. I just today got two six week old silkies and they were still using a heat lamp so I bought one also. They are not right under it but they still seem to need it. I would think they will need to be weened from it? Consider this a bump up for someone more experienced to chime in.
sharon

 

[Blondie]

They can go outside now. Put a heat lamp in the corner of the coop. You may want to wrap the bottom 3 feet of the open part of the coop with a plastic tarp or something so they are out of the draft. (Get a plastic drop cloth at wal-mart or home depot for $4 in the paint dept) The draft will kill them. They will gravitate to the heat lamp when they need to be warm. You'll only need the heat lamp until they are about 5 or 6 weeks old.

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

I don't like having a heat lamp in coop- too much fire hazard. I move my babies out to the coop when they are full feathered, after 2 weeks I wean them off the heatlamp during the day and then when they have all feathers they go outside with no supplemental heat. Make sure they are always draft free though.

 

[chkinut]

i got about 9 chicks back in April of this year....and i put them outside 24/7 when they were 4 weeks old.....no heat lamp...... and they did great! they had each other for warmth....just as chicks will have a mother hen. i had no problem.