A little background on how we raise our chickens: Anytime we get chicks, we always kept them inside.  The first time we had chicks we kept them in the basement.  Now we keep chicks in my office.  If a hen hatches eggs, we leave the eggs and chicks outside with the mom.  We only bring eggs or chicks in if there is a problem.  One year we had a chick missing the skin on either side of his face so he was brought in.  Check out that video here. 

This post will be pertaining to the chicks we get from the store and raise in the house! 

Can you get chicks and keep them outside?  Yes.  However, we don’t do that because of the temperature and predators.  With small chicks they need a constant source of heat.  I would hate for the heat lamp to stop working during the night and find some dead from the cold.

I will also point out that we live on the eastern side of Virginia.  Usually, the coldest we get is in the teens, sometimes it will drop down to the one digit.  However, our winters are usually fairly mild.  After a few cold days, we will have a warmer day. 

We mainly get chicks in the spring months: March, April, May.  We try to aim for the end of March and the beginning of April then the chicks will go out May, June, July.  Depends on when we get them and how old they are. 

My rule of thumb is if they are jumping out of the brooder, then it’s time for them to go outside. 

We built an extension to one of the coops that will be the second brooder for the chicks. 

There is a door and chicken wire to keep the coop’s run and chick brooder separate. 

They can see through the chicken wire into the coop’s run to get acquainted with the older chickens.  There’s a spot for food, water, roosting, and then the heat lamp.

When the older chickens free range, we shut the chicken coop run’s door and open the door to the chick brooder to allow the chicks to have ‘free range’ of the coop and run! 

We do this for several weeks and then allow the chicks to have access to outside the coop.

We have done this for a few years now and it has always worked for us!  Check out the youtube video here!