You Don't Know what You Don't Know

[Country Gal]

I agree! I was having a hard time with the brooder and keeping it at the higher temps. My chicks were between 70 and 75* from the very beginning, which actually helped them feather out a little faster. They would have been in the coop a lot sooner as well, if I had the coop done! I was at the mercy of DF's crazy work schedule...

 

[Standard Hen]

I agree Ruth, I could see if it was the middle of winter. I have never had a problem with putting baby chicks outside, they fare just fine.

 

[annrich]

I agree too. When I picked up my two 3 week old buff orps. They had been outside for 2 weeks already. The lady I got them from has had chickens for 60 plus years. I grew up around chickens but never "took care" of them. So being the novice I am. I did everything she said. "Put them near the big girls for a few days, Feed them this med feed for a couple more weeks, Then let them go." Worked like a charm. Now they are 8 weeks and living in the "big house". I do think I tend to over do it sometimes. If my great grandpa seen my feed store bill he would make me get my own switch from the tree.

 

[pattycake]

I can't imagine how anyone can keep chickens inside for 8 weeks. Maybe if they had just two or three. Mine are just seven weeks now, have been outside for more than a month. They became very unhappy with their brooder at two weeks -- trying to fly out, zooming back and forth. And they started to smell, too. Now they're SO BIG and use every bit of their 10 square-feet-a-piece run. They poop up a storm and have been fully feathered out for weeks.

Maybe they stay smaller if you keep them inside??

 

[Frozen Feathers]

Mine were out at 4 weeks. Had to wait until they were fully feathered, Maine weather stinks.

They free range near the big girls and my black Silkie hen thinks she's their mom. She is always calling them over for treats and what not. It's really cute. Haven't had any problems with the bigger girls bothering them or the roosters. They are all big and healthy and can catch grasshoppers and crickets with the best of them.

 

[CutestChickenFarmer]

Yesterday after work, I picked up some chicken wire to reinforce the dog kennel I have out back that encloses the coop. My girls are 3 weeks old, and my plan was to kick them out of the house today. Despite all I've been reading, it just seemed somehow inhumane to keep them cooped up (no pun intended) in the house like this.

Folks have been raising chickens for a very long time under very impoverished circumstances and in hellacious weather conditions. I mean, we're not cultivating orchids, here! I wouldn't toss them out into the snow, but geez, at three weeks, they gotta get outta my dining room!!

Thanks for your post, Ruth. They're getting the boot later on today after class, and no doubt will be infinitely happier.

Susan

 

[FamilyOfChickens]

Our first batch were in a old changing table drawer on the outside porch with a screen and brick on the top. When we didn't have them out in the yard, they were in there. For the first few days we put them in a cardboard box on the porch with some newspaper and a little wood shavings on the bottom. After a week or two of the drawer they moved up to the steel garden wagon with a cover over it. And they're doing great! The Ameracaunas upgraded to a steel thing made out of old whatevers (I don't know WHAT they were) with two heat lamps, as we had a cold snap when they were still really young and it was getting down to the upper 30's.

 

[Arklady]

One of the reasons I take mine up is because my birds walk on the chicks and they are dead... Plus the hatch rate is horrible. I may get 4 out of like 12 eggs. It was ok at first then they start dying because they are walked on and sat on. Not cool. So I just take mine up.

It only seems cruel to people because we tend to put ourselves into the equation like, "I would not like being caged." But the reality of it is that they don't know the difference. Even grown chickens adapt to impossible situations. Most animals born in captivity don't know the difference from being raised in a barn or out in the field they just know what is.

Arklady

 

[Canarygirl]

My 3 week old babies are out of the brooder and happy as can be. They are scratching with the hens. We had to get rid of our rooster cause he wouldn't ever stop crowing all day long so it's just 5 hens and the chicks. I highly suggest putting them out of the brooders as soon as possible. Thanks for all the good posts on this subject.

 

[Frizzledhen]

quote=pattycake I can't imagine how anyone can keep chickens inside for 8 weeks. Maybe if they had just two or three.

I had 35 but they were bantys. I enlarged their brooder 4 times. The smell was not bad but the CHICKEN DUST was horrible! I thought I was doing the right thing but after this first batch I started useing MY brain and put the second batch out at 3 weeks and the third batch went straight to the chick coop.

Pattycake, I had a little chihuahua that I named Pattycake since she was born on St. Patricks Day. She is now a therapy dog that visits care homes and hospitals. I love my little chis.

Gayle
Chi lady in Michigan