Chook Me!

At what age is it ok for baby chicks to peck around outside?

We recently got 4 baby hens, who are now about 5 or 6 days old. They seem pretty healthy and active and have roamed around our house (with us guarding them) but we want to try letting them on the grass for a little while. Is this a good idea or should we wait until they are older?

Public Comments

1. They should be eating well now and naturally have the instinct to scratch and peck. Temp. is what you should be worried about. If it is windy then I would say no unless it is really warm out. If you can keep them in the sun and it is like 90 degrees then yes you can let them out. But if you live in a mid temp zone I wouldn't suggest it just yet. You can however bring the inside to them. Just dig up a couple clumps of grass dirt and all and throw it in with them. They will scratch and have a party. This will also keep them from pecking at each other as they tend to do when they get a few weeks older.
2. You should only let them out if you have some sort of small enclosure for them as they can wander or a cat could eat them. You could get something like this http://img.alibaba.com/photo/50369787/Hamster_Enclosure.jpg we had one and it was perfect for putting in the yard for our small chickens to scratch around in. We got ours at Petland. And when they get older they'll have to have a house and a pen outside.
3. i have several one week old pullets and i keep them in a wooden box with a heat lamp that has a covered scratch area outside. i open it up (the scratch area) at about a week. when they get cold they will go back to the heat.