How early is too early to let chicks outside?

[ChicKat]

Just recently I had to move some chicks that were 10 days old (now almost 21 days) from my brooder out to a larger coop. I had the brooder split in half. One half was the larger chicks (my orps) and the other half were the smaller ones (silkies and Ameraucana's). Well, the orps during the middle of the night were jumping over the barrier. I decided to move then out to one of my coops. I am in the San Jose Bay Area of Ca. and the first couple of days chicks stayed inside. After about the 3rd day they felt comfortable enough to venture outside. After about the 3rd day temps got really hot here, like hi 80's/low 90's. The coop is insulated really good so w/ the heat lamp it got really hot in there so I took it upon myself to turn the heat lamp off during the day and at night turned it on. I figured if the chicks got cold at all during the day they would go inside and keep each other warm. Again this was on 10 day old chicks I did this and they did perfectly fine. The weather has cooled off a lot so the last few days heat lamp has been on 24/7 but they are still going outside. So I guess it's what you feel comfortable doing. Hope this info helps.

It really does help....thanks. My area gets hot---and I am (if my eggs hatch) probably going to have more heat worries than cold worries come JUNE.

 

[ChicKat]

It's much easier to clean a coop when its raised and the area underneath provides a shady area for the hens when it's hot outside.

Know what else? When you get old and decrepit----it is really nice to gather the eggs from a higher level than to get down to ground level to get eggs!!! Same thing for picking up your chickens.
:O)

 

[alyssaplavigne]

Mine are about 5 days old and I was wondering if it was too soon to let them explore outside. Suprivised and possibly contained to one area. But would I need chick grit before letting them do that? Today it was about 28C. And tomorrow supposed to be similar. Thank you! Sorry to post on such an old thread :/