When to put your chicks out with the adults???

[beckiespor]

I am fairly new to rasing chicks and have a couple of questions. I have been told many different things about when to integrate my chicks into the flock: from the morning after adding them to the flock at night, to leaving them for weeks in a separate place. Could anyone help me know when to put my chicks out. I have been waiting till they are about a month old and then putting them out after I know they have a full body full of feathers. I have been doing this as I was told they can not control their body temp unitl they have feathers. My chicks: Houdans, Silkies, and Favorelles (how do you pronounce thart?) are a month old and I have just taken them out of a cage and put them in their own mini yard I built inside my 5 ft 100 by 50 ft chicken yard.

Help

 

[bigredfeather]

If possible, it's best to wait until they are 18-20 weeks old before putting them together or even having them in the same coop as mature birds. Reason for this, a young birds immune system isn't as strong as it needs to be before this age to have to fight off potential adult bird diseases.

 

[ChooksChick]

I just put up an article on this!

http://www.examiner.com/x-9873-Kans...ickens-101-Introducing-new-birds-to-the-flock