When will they go outside

[Nellydog]

Hello I live in Illinois near Chicago and I’m new to chicken keeping, how old should a chick be to go outside? O

 

[Nellydog]

Or what should the temp be?

 

[paneubert]

It is always a combination of how feathered out they are, what the night time temps are, if they have any sort of supplemental heat out in the coop, how many there are (since they can snuggle with each other), and how drafty the coop is.

But usually the "easy" answer is around 6 weeks old if you want a relatively safe answer.

 

[blackdog043]

Do you want to brood them in your coop? I'm guessing you don't have any other chickens, since your new to chicken keeping.

What are you gonna use for a heat source, heat lamp, brooder plate, mama heat pad?

You can brood them in your coop, as early as you want to, if you have the room and it is draft free. I start mine in the garage for a few days to about a week, to keep a better eye on them, then move them to the coop brooder. I use the mama heat pad for my heat source. Today they were 17 days old and I made the panic doors for the brooder, to start integration. My temperatures when I moved them to the coop were low 30's at night and high 50's during the day. We have been having mid 30's at night, the past few days. There is no set time when they can go outside, it's more of a personal decision and how comfortable you are having them outside. There are others on here up north, that brood outside in colder temps than we have in NC.