When to Move Chicks from the Brooder to the Coop (Video)

Hank Will, Editor-in-Chief of GRIT Magazine, answers the reader-submitted question: “When should chicks be transferred from the brooder into the coop?”

As long as the temperature outside during the day is fairly warm (above 50 degrees) and the nights are in the 30’s and 40’s, you can move your chicks into the coop if they are fully feathered out. This is especially true if the coop is a particularly well-protected structure. If it’s very cold and the chicks huddle together, it might be prudent to hang a heat lamp in the coop to run at night.

The biggest danger for the chicks in the coop is not so much temperature as it is the adult chickens in the coop and other potential predators. One way to help protect them from the older chickens is to keep them physically separated, but allow them to see one another.