Gold Coast Chickens Australia - What age to let baby chicks out to free range?
Rule of thumb for moving chicks from the indoor brooder to the outside coop & run is to wait until the chicks are 8 weeks old or fully feathered. At this stage they should have been weaned off of the heat lamp already so will be quite fine outside once they get used to it.
My coop and run are very sheltered as it is located between the house and the shed, so I put my first lot of chicks out at around 7 weeks, by this stage they had already been outside all day for a week or two and were not needing the lamp on any more as the weather was starting to warm up coming into spring. My lot went fine at this age but generally it's best to trust your common sense and keep an eye on them at first to make sure they are not too cold, I put a pet carrier inside the coop for my little ones when I move them out as this is a safe place for them to hide away from the hens if they are getting bullied at all and also a place for the little ones to all pile in and keep warm of a night if they need to.
I then keep them cooped up for 2 weeks with access only to the enclosed run, I still let the big girls out to free range during the day but leave the littler ones in the run. After 2 weeks of this they will know that this is home and I allow them to free range with the big girls as at this point the little chickens will then know to come home at dusk with the big girls.
I know some people have let their chicks out to the coop as young as 3-5 weeks old and it worked out well for them, so please if you have chickens of your own comment below and let us know what worked best for you!
