when can my chicks go outside

I have chicks that are about 1 month old. I live in the Vancouver area. They are currently in my house. When will it be okay to put them outside with my other hens??? Thanks!

Given that mum-hens start abandoning their babies at around 6 weeks or later, I'd say definitely no earlier than 6 weeks (another two weeks). Factor in the weather (it's not really that warm yet), and I'd suggest that you wait another 4 weeks. Can you keep them separate from the older birds for a while? Maybe separated by a wire fence, so they can get to know each other withot being able to fight? Older hens can be quite mean sometimes, especially to an umknown young small bird with no mum to defend it.

I usually let them out at three weeks of age, but not with older chickens. At three weeks they are in a coop with a pop door to an outside run. They can still come back in and warm up under a heat lamp. I carefully introduce them to older chickens as early as 4 months.

Sorry, I was confusing. Yes of course they can go outside far earlier than six weeks IF they have somewhere warm to come into, when they need it. We also let our incubator-hatched chicks out sometime around 2-3 weeks of age, but make sure they can get inside to the heat lamp when they need it.

I was thinking you were asking about tossing them out into an unheated coop and run with older hens, and that, you don't want to rush into.

I have a small run and coop that is attached to my main one so that my adult hens and the new chicks will be able to see each other before I mix them up. Sorry, my concern was at what age will I be able to leave them outside without heat and over night in their own coop. I have never raised chicks before, I have bought adult hens and pullets before so this is a little new to me. I was thinking that they would be okay at 6 weeks of age but looking at them now, that's only another 2 weeks, I'm not sure they will be old enough yet to stand our weather! But they are getting to be a little too big to keep inside the house any longer than that! Not sure what to do...

By 6 weeks they are fully feathered even now they should be. I would try and wean them off heat while they are inside so its not as shocking. If your house for them is insulated they would hopefully be ok. Are you able to run a heat lamp for them outside in their mini coop? Just incase its still chilly at night for them?

If you could run a heat lamp to them they should be fine. I have had mine out in the coop since they were six weeks old with a heat lamp on them and they're doing great. We've had some quite cold nights too (well cold for us would be in the -10 range with wind chill added to that).

Mine are about 4 weeks old, almost fully feathered. I have had them in a pen in the greenhouse for a couple of weeks now. They have a heat lamp and the greenhouse is un-heated. They are doing fine. When they stop sleeping under the heat lamp I will take it away. Tonight it looks like some of them are grouping together away from the lamp.

At 8 weeks you can feel confident that they're fully feathered and you'll see it, as they should have no chick down left. My plan this year is to not keep them inside beyond two weeks but will provide a heat lamp in a draft free outbuilding till their 8 weeks. It's great if you can have a generator back up in case the power goes out. And yes, ideally, IMO, if you can keep them separated by wire for at least two weeks before you introduce them at 4 months old to the older hens, that is best.

I have this nifty little device plugged into a socket in my home that buzzes loudly when the power goes out, so I can tend to the chicks as needed. By keeping it plugged in, it charges the battery, that then goes off when electricity is cut off. It really keeps me from worrying at night when the little darlins are out in their building under a heat lamp.

I have this nifty little device plugged into a socket in my home that buzzes loudly when the power goes out, so I can tend to the chicks as needed. By keeping it plugged in, it charges the battery, that then goes off when electricity is cut off. It really keeps me from worrying at night when the little darlins are out in their building under a heat lamp.

I have been looking for a power off alarm since mid January when the power went off at midnight and stayed off for 5 hours. We have wood heat and slept through until morning to find most rooster with frozen parts and the well house frozen. What is the device called and where did you find it? I have seen the reactor light at Home Hardware, but it is not quite what I want as the alarm is just a light.

Rosewood, I went into our local electronics store at the suggestion of my partner and told them I was needing a gadget I could plug into our house that would alarm me when the power went out and they didn't hesitate. It's a little grey box with a plug and a switch I throw when it goes off to turn the buzzing noise off. If you want to see a picture of it I can get that to you.

Here's the shop in Nelson that did it for me: http://skelectronics.ca/

Until I got this, I was so stressed out at night when and not sleeping well when I was brooding young chicks because the power kept going out and I was afraid I was going to wake up to dead chicks.

Thank you all for sharing your experiences! All your information has been very helpful!