Ours are 22 days old and making a disgusting mess of our spare bathtub. Not the brightest birds in the flock. We want to stick them outside in their own tractor with a heat lamp. How old do they need to be before they can go outside? I know people are particular about putting out their layers, but, what about broilers? These seem kind of dumb and aggressive...
If temps are generally staying in the high 30s-low 40s at night and warming up during they day, I think you would be okay with them outside under a heat lamp or two.
Oh God, in your bathtub?!?!?! Put them outside RIGHT NOW!! They're ok after about three weeks as long as your temps are mild. If it's still cold where you live, throw a heat lamp out with them.
It's our SPARE bathtub. But it does smell horrific in there. I think my hubby spent yesterday trying to get the chicken tractor ready to move to its new location, and we plan to put them out this weekend. Spending 20 minutes a day cleaning up after stinky chicks is not my favorite activity.
Our were put outside this week without a heat lamp and they are 3 weeks old. They are in a recycled rabbit hutch so they are old of the weather, but can get sunshine. The highs are in the 60s and the lows in the 40s.
I just put mine outside at 3 weeks old. We had ours in the garage and it was overwhelming. I can't even imagine them in the house. I have a heat lamp on them and they are doing great. I would say they are actually moving around more that they are outside. I was afraid they would huddle up under a heat lamp with their food and never move, but they're doing great.
In early November I put some out in a coop at 3 days old. Draft-free and with a heat lamp of course. They did just fine. Granted we have milder weather here in NC than some parts of the country. But still, we get plenty of nights at freezing temps during that time of year. ETA: Oh, and I feel your pain. No way in heck could I tolerate them in the house, anywhere.
I'm in North GA and trying to figure out the same thing. I need to separate my two 3-week-old meat birds from the rest of the chicks so I can cut back on their feed, but we have a full garage already - the brooder is full of chicks, and our extra dog crate has a broody hen and her chicks in it. These Cornish Rocks are huge, but I know they are still too small to go in with the big chickens. We have a small outdoor coop that is currently unoccupied and would provide good shelter, but it's still pretty cold here at night - 35-54 predicted for the next ten nights. Would they be OK out there if we can rig up a heat lamp for night time? Here's the little coop:
