When to move the chicks to their coop?

[RNjoy17]

Hi all,

I am just curious as to when I can move my chicks to their new coop? My husband and I are nearly finished with the build - draft free, but ventilation opening towards the top near the roof. I currently have one 5 week old ( the others unfortunately died suddenly, unsure as to why), and have 14 1 week olds. Currently they are both in separate brooders (quarantining the 5 week old just to be sure its nothing contagious), and I will plan on introducing them in a few more days. I can have a heat lamp in the coop in one corner, but curious if 3-4 weeks of age is too young to move out? I don't want to move the 5 week old out alone without the others if I can help it. I plan on keeping them in the coop for several days, then will introduce them to their run once they've gotten used to the coop. Any tips would be helpful. For reference I live in Maine, during the day temperatures are averaging 50's to low 60's, nights average upper 30's to low 40's. Thank you so much

 

[Ridgerunner]

I don't know how big that coop is or what it looks like. For that many chickens I hope fairly big. My brooder is in the coop. I put chicks in that straight from the incubator, even when the outside temperatures are below freezing. My goal is to have one spot warm enough in the coldest temperatures and one spot cool enough in the warmest of conditions. To me that's the biggest issue with brooding outside, the temperature swings. It can change by 40 degrees almost overnight. Your set-up has to be able to handle that. Too much heat can kill as fast as too much cold.

Many of us brood outside. Some use heat plates or a heating pad. Those can work if they are set up correctly but someone on here recently had problems with a heat plate. I'm not sure if it was not set up correctly or if it couldn't handle the number of chicks or how cold it got.

I use a heat lamp. I use different wattage bulbs depending on temperatures and raise and lower it to make fine tune adjustments. To me it is very important to attach it with wire or chain. Do not be tempted to use the clamp that comes with it, that can be bad. Do not use string or plastic that can burn or melt. Use wire or chain to make sure it is very secure. To me that takes away the vast majority of fire danger.

My brooder is 3' x 6'. I keep one end toasty in cold weather but the far end may have ice in it when it is below freezing. The chicks don't care what temperature it is somewhere else, they just care what temperature it is where they are. During hot days they are not going to be near the heat source. One advantage to me in raising them outside is that they get acclimated to the cold temperatures. I've had 5-1/2 week old chicks go through nights in the mid 20's F with no supplemental heat. Just because they can handle those temperatures doesn't mean they have to, but mine did. My typical brood is around 20 chicks.

I would not introduce them to the run until I was sure they knew where the coop was, in case of rain or such. With mine that's usually around five weeks old but if you don't move yours out until then I'd wait a bit. Once they are feathered out they can handle rain and such pretty well, mine like to be out in rain, they are looking for creepy crawlies that come to the surface. Your coop should be plenty big enough that they can stay in it without needing to go outside for a while.

I don't know what your temperature will be in another month, but they should be warmer. I'd have no problems moving them out with no supplemental heat when they are 5 weeks old.

 

[All4Eggz]

Chicks should be moved out at at least 6-8 weeks. you can move the oldest one in a week or two, but the other chicks should stay in the brooder separate, because the oldest one might pick on them.

 

[RNjoy17]

I don't know how big that coop is or what it looks like. For that many chickens I hope fairly big. My brooder is in the coop. I put chicks in that straight from the incubator, even when the outside temperatures are below freezing. My goal is to have one spot warm enough in the coldest temperatures and one spot cool enough in the warmest of conditions. To me that's the biggest issue with brooding outside, the temperature swings. It can change by 40 degrees almost overnight. Your set-up has to be able to handle that. Too much heat can kill as fast as too much cold.

Many of us brood outside. Some use heat plates or a heating pad. Those can work if they are set up correctly but someone on here recently had problems with a heat plate. I'm not sure if it was not set up correctly or if it couldn't handle the number of chicks or how cold it got.

I use a heat lamp. I use different wattage bulbs depending on temperatures and raise and lower it to make fine tune adjustments. To me it is very important to attach it with wire or chain. Do not be tempted to use the clamp that comes with it, that can be bad. Do not use string or plastic that can burn or melt. Use wire or chain to make sure it is very secure. To me that takes away the vast majority of fire danger.

My brooder is 3' x 6'. I keep one end toasty in cold weather but the far end may have ice in it when it is below freezing. The chicks don't care what temperature it is somewhere else, they just care what temperature it is where they are. During hot days they are not going to be near the heat source. One advantage to me in raising them outside is that they get acclimated to the cold temperatures. I've had 5-1/2 week old chicks go through nights in the mid 20's F with no supplemental heat. Just because they can handle those temperatures doesn't mean they have to, but mine did. My typical brood is around 20 chicks.

I would not introduce them to the run until I was sure they knew where the coop was, in case of rain or such. With mine that's usually around five weeks old but if you don't move yours out until then I'd wait a bit. Once they are feathered out they can handle rain and such pretty well, mine like to be out in rain, they are looking for creepy crawlies that come to the surface. Your coop should be plenty big enough that they can stay in it without needing to go outside for a while.

I don't know what your temperature will be in another month, but they should be warmer. I'd have no problems moving them out with no supplemental heat when they are 5 weeks old.

Thank you for your advice! My coop is 4x8ft with plenty of roosting spots and then 5 nesting boxes on one side. We are finishing the run, but that will be roughly 13x25ft. During the days when I am home (I work nights, 3 shifts/week), they will be free-ranged as well.

Thank you for the advice on the metal chain, I will do that! In the house, I am currently using the clamp is comes with but didn't trust it so I have the lamp positioned so that if it fell, it would fall on the floor and not on the chicks.

I thought of putting the brooder inside, but my issue is that my coop sits off the ground roughly 3 ft. I designed it that way so when I clean it out, I can just scrape all the bedding into a wheelbarrow below the door - plus extra protection from animals that may want to eat the chickens. But it would be super inconvenient to place my brooder in there - I would have to pull it all out in order to feed/water/change shavings. Thats why I was wondering if it would be enough to just have a heat lamp hanging in one corner and they would have full access to the rest of the coop.

 

[RNjoy17]

Chicks should be moved out at at least 6-8 weeks. you can move the oldest one in a week or two, but the other chicks should stay in the brooder separate, because the oldest one might pick on them.

Do you think the single one would be ok moved out alone? I'm probably over-thinking things, just worried about it being alone. Their in separate brooders but in the same room and they chirp back and forth and attempt to socialize in the ways they can

 

[All4Eggz]

Do you think the single one would be ok moved out alone? I'm probably over-thinking things, just worried about it being alone. Their in separate brooders but in the same room and they chirp back and forth and attempt to socialize in the ways they can

I think it would be better off outside, with fresh air, fresh grass, and more space. It should be fine.
On a warm day, you can let the other chicks into the run with the big one and let them get used to each other before you permanently moving them. Supervise them so the big one doesn't attack the others too much.

 

[rosemarythyme]

With your temperatures (assuming they remain steady) the younger ones can go out around 5 weeks, if you work on weaning them off heat/expose them to outside conditions as that time approaches).

You could go either way with the older chick, assuming it's completely off heat and ready to move out. Since it hasn't already bonded with the others it's not going to miss them.

 

[WyoRoo]

We had a similar situation as yours this Spring. We had 6 five week old chicks and 20 day old chicks. We built a coop in an unheated pole barn and initially put the brooder inside the coop. After one day we got rid of the brooder; all 26 chicks were together and we had zero issues. The fist day one 5 week old would chase a few of the day olds back under the brooder plate but none of the chicks were injured or hurt. The one doing all the chasing soon became the mother figure and hung out with all the day olds while the other five bigger chicks stayed together in their little flock.
We live in Wyoming and the temps the last couple months have been very cold! Day time temps avg 10-30 deg and nights have been single digits land seldom above freezing. Our coldest temp was -9 deg and no issues. Even when temps were the coldest the chicks would dart in and out from under the brooder plate and were very active in the coop all day! We have one brooder plate and two heat lamps, many of the little chicks would hang out under the heat lamps and only go under the brooder plate at night. Over the past 6 weeks all the chicks have integrated and hang out together. We’re no chicken experts, but all the 20 chicks brooded outdoors in subfreezing temps all survived and zero pasty butt. The initial batch we brooded indoors (70deg) and carefully monitored temps, etc...had terrible pasty butt and 2 died. The chicks we put outside just seemed much more vigorous even today at 6.5 weeks! The first pic was of the brooder in the coop and the second was on day two when we removed it.

 

[All4Eggz]

We had a similar situation as yours this Spring. We had 6 five week old chicks and 20 day old chicks. We built a coop in an unheated pole barn and initially put the brooder inside the coop. After one day we got rid of the brooder; all 26 chicks were together and we had zero issues. The fist day one 5 week old would chase a few of the day olds back under the brooder plate but none of the chicks were injured or hurt. The one doing all the chasing soon became the mother figure and hung out with all the day olds while the other five bigger chicks stayed together in their little flock.
We live in Wyoming and the temps the last couple months have been very cold! Day time temps avg 10-30 deg and nights have been single digits land seldom above freezing. Our coldest temp was -9 deg and no issues. Even when temps were the coldest the chicks would dart in and out from under the brooder plate and were very active in the coop all day! We have one brooder plate and two heat lamps, many of the little chicks would hang out under the heat lamps and only go under the brooder plate at night. Over the past 6 weeks all the chicks have integrated and hang out together. We’re no chicken experts, but all the 20 chicks brooded outdoors in subfreezing temps all survived and zero pasty butt. The initial batch we brooded indoors (70deg) and carefully monitored temps, etc...had terrible pasty butt and 2 died. The chicks we put outside just seemed much more vigorous even today at 6.5 weeks! The first pic was of the brooder in the coop and the second was on day two when we removed it.

Goes to show that outdoor raised chicks will overall be more active and healthy. Just like in nature. When my broody raises the chicks, they all are extremely healthy and vigorous. In the brooder, they seem to know less of what to do when we get them outside.

Happy to hear that all is going well!

 

[WyoRoo]

Goes to show that outdoor raised chicks will overall be more active and healthy. Just like in nature. When my broody raises the chicks, they all are extremely healthy and vigorous. In the brooder, they seem to know less of what to do when we get them outside.

Happy to hear that all is going well!

For sure...The primary reason we removed the brooder was the inconvenience for my 12 yr old daughter. I built it out of salvaged window screens and it was too tall for her to easily care for the chicks. In the coop, I built two levels of temporary roosts. Interesting, four of the 1 week old chicks were able to fly up to the higher roost while only one of the 6 wk brooder raised chicks could make it. I don’t know if that was breed specific or just the fact they had so much more room to run and test their wings.