Raising chicks outdoors

[fluffy07]

Hi, all chicken lovers. In this sad world it just feels so great to have tiny, new life. I would just like to comment that, if your chicks don't have a Mum to sit on them when they are cold, the risks of raising them outdoors are massive. Wee chicks not only need heat top-down, but they need cover to shelter under. Depending on your climate, they may get damp outside, and, if their fluff gets damp and they can't dry off, then they will die. I use an indoor brooder, at work surface height, against a window where they can look at the outside world. A large sheepskin hat acts as a nest, and they all cuddle in. There is also a heat lamp, which is raised gradually as the chicks start to feather. On fine days, they are collected in a box and taken to an outdoor pen where they can forage. If frightened, they retreat to the box which has their own blanket. Works for me!

 

[FrostRanger]

Usually when people raise chicks outdoors they have them in a barn, coop or shed with a heat source. If done properly, it's pretty safe and the chicks acclimate quicker to the ambient temperature. I didn't brood outside myself as my coop isn't setup for that, but I would have if I could have. I did however have the girls in the bathroom with the window up and they acclimated to the ambient temp so fast that when they turned 4 weeks old they didn't even want their brooder plate on as it was making them too hot. If I wasn't sick that week they would have been outside full time by then as they were 100% ready and had been spending days in a secured portion of my main run where they could see the adults so they could get used to each other. They did get put outside full-time the following week. My previous batch last year didn't even want to go back inside at 5 weeks, I went outside to bring them back inside one evening and they were already asleep in the coop. I just locked them up and went inside. Many different approaches work for raising chicks, I just choose to take reasonable precautions but otherwise let them toughen up a bit, they're certainly delicate but also tougher than they appear. The way you choose to do things certainly works too, everyone just does things a bit different, as long as one's birds are happy and healthy, that's all that matters at the end of the day

 

[rosemarythyme]

I have the opposite approach. Chicks are delicate yes, but tougher than they look. They're designed to survive as long as basic needs are met.

My brooder stays out in the run rain or shine. Short of a flood the brooder will stay dry right on the run floor (I have excellent drainage and I build up the litter a few inches under the brooder) and a bit of rain won't melt a chick anyhow. It also allows me to pop open the door at around 2 weeks old so the chicks can explore the run and meet the adults, instead of being "cooped up" and bored.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...ed-store-to-coop.1617102/page-2#post-27647828