When whould it be safe for my chicks to go outside?

[nochka]

Hello, my 2 chicks hatched Nov 10 and now are 8 weeks and fully feathered. We are in NJ and it is cold. Should I keep tem in my garage till spring or can they go out into a coop with other three chickens that are 5 months old?

 

[easttxchick]

If they are fully feathered, they should be OK to go out with a heat source(of course, they may not even need supplemental heat, I'm a bit overprotective of my chicks).

 

[Sjisty]

In my case, I start putting my youngsters out during the day and bringing them back in at night for a week or two to give them a chance to get used to the cold. I don't use a heat source in my coops - I've heard too much about coops burning down!

 

[Egghead_Jr]

New Jersey lows for the next week are in the high twenties. That's not bad at all. They may act odd around snow at first but will do fine running about in mid thirty and 40 degree weather and have each other for warmth at night.

I read an article about lighting for fall birds. To start with a lot of light and take 1/2 hour away a week until it's even with daylight time late spring. Simulating nature into dwindling daylight to aid in their reproductive maturing.

 

[nochka]

Thank you all for your replies. I will try putting them out during the day for a few weeks that way i can make sure that older girls are not picking on them too much.