How Long Until Chicks Can Go Outdoors
Our chicks are nearly four weeks old now and since we live in Florida it’s pretty descent outside during the day. Since hubby was doing a thorough cleaning of the brooder I decided to bring the chicks out in the backyard to see how they would react. We haven’t built their coop yet, but our yard is fenced so I thought it was pretty safe to let them roam around for a couple minutes while the maid was cleaning their room.
The answer to the question is….it depends. Get familiar with your chicks. Are they still depending on the heat lamp in the brooder? Is it cold outside where you live? These are signs that your chicks may be ready to go outside for short periods of time to get them acclimated to the outdoors.
We let our girls walk around for about 30 minutes and explore. It was so fun watching them, but be warned if you are relying on a chain link fence to keep them contained, don’t. These little girls were fast when it came time to getting them all back into the brooder. One little lady ran right through the chain link fence and headed into our boat dock. I was freaking out that she might jump into the lake canal, but luckily she didn’t and after chasing her around like a “chicken with my head cut off” I finally got her back with her sisters.
Cute video. I wish I could have seen you chasing them to get them back inside the fence. lol
I remember back then when I was still a kid, we also have backyard chickens and mom prepares scrambled eggs for breakfast. Some days, my cousins and I go on shifts to take care of the chicks and feed them.
so cute 🙂
So, cute. We took ours outside for the first time Saturday. Yours were more adventurous than ours. Sunday they did a little more exploring.
I love how you shot a video of this. I wish I would have done it this way too. I would love for you to come and share it on my weekly link up that just went live. http://countrifiedhicks.blogspot.com/2013/03/mondays-with-countrified-hicks-6.html
Feel free to link up to 3 posts!
Awww what a sweet video! They are so cute. I love seeing them scratch in the dirt at such a young age. Instinct is so amazing! I have baby chick fever really bad and this didn’t help haha.
Visiting from Clever Chicks Blog Hop 🙂
Oh thank you….heading over to check out your blog now. Thanks for stopping by!
Great video.They are so cute!!!