When To Go Outside

[Mellysandwich]

Hey everyone, my chicks are now 5 weeks old and most of them are pretty feathered out. I'm thinking of putting them outside either next week at 6 weeks of age or the following week at 7 weeks old. The frost date is May 1st, but during the day we should be getting temperatures anywhere from 60 to 70 degrees within the next week or two. However, there will be bouts of rain and nighttime should see the temperatures dipping lower. With this information would it be okay if I put my chicks out at 6 weeks of age, or is that too soon? They are really starting to outgrow the brooder I have. There are 12 chicks.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

Hey everyone, my chicks are now 5 weeks old and most of them are pretty feathered out. I'm thinking of putting them outside either next week at 6 weeks of age or the following week at 7 weeks old. The frost date is May 1st, but during the day we should be getting temperatures anywhere from 60 to 70 degrees within the next week or two. However, there will be bouts of rain and nighttime should see the temperatures dipping lower. With this information would it be okay if I put my chicks out at 6 weeks of age, or is that too soon? They are really starting to outgrow the brooder I have. There are 12 chicks.[/QUOTE

Where are you located and what kind of coop do you have?

 

[Mellysandwich]

Ohio. It's a small homemade portable coop that I bought. About 3 feet, by 2 feet. It's temporary until they can go in with the older flock. It has a run attached for daytime.

 

[kmom08]

I would personally wait until they are fully feathered as night time temps still get pretty low.

I'm no expert, but with my batch last spring I started by shutting the brooder lamp off once they were feathered as the house temp was steady at 70 and they never got loud about being cold. I brought them outside during the days, until ready for the coop. Mine hatched April 25th of last year though, and I live in southern Kentucky.

 

[kmom08]

Sorry I missed the part where they are outgrowing the brooder

 

[chickens really]

You can take them out during the day. I'm thinking they are ready now to be outside.

 

[debid]

I'm sure they'd love the new digs. With 12 to raft up, they shouldn't be cold at night. I always do a couple days shut in the coop portion to home them so if you can tape a piece of plastic sheeting or something (feed bags are great for this!) over the doorway, they won't be confused about where to sleep at night or where to retreat when it rains once they have access to the run.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

I agree, they should be fine. I do have another question (of course, it's what I do). I can't tell from the picture, but what type of wire is on the run?

 

[Mellysandwich]

I agree, they should be fine. I do have another question (of course, it's what I do). I can't tell from the picture, but what type of wire is on the run?

I feel a little silly because I'm not exactly sure what the wire is called. But it's the kind that has very little space between them in squares. It's not the traditional chicken wire.

 

[debid]

I feel a little silly because I'm not exactly sure what the wire is called. But it's the kind that has very little space between them in squares. It's not the traditional chicken wire.

It's called hardware cloth.