The day old chicks we were raising outgrew their cage in the house after about 4 weeks.  They were ready to move outside to the barn. They didn’t need the heat lamp any more and were ready for more space and fresher air (the house needed to be aired out by that point as well!).

I used an outdoor pet exercise pen and covered the outside with chicken wire to make sure the chicks couldn’t squeeze out between the bars. I added a wooden crate and a cement block inside to give them something to climb and roost on. The floor is covered with pine shavings to help maintain cleanliness and provide the chicks with something to kick through.  The roof over the pen was just a scrap of wood from the barn to prevent them from flying out and any other chickens from getting in.

Four week old chicks out in the barn.

Click through for a video and more photos of the baby chicks.

This batch of chicks is 2 different breeds.

Three of the chicks are Blue-Laced Red Wyandottes – see the chick in the front in the below picture. Eventually, the color will be a reddish color with pale blue/gray lacing around the tips of most of the feathers. Wyandottes are good dual purpose birds so they can be raised for meat or used to lay eggs.

The other three chicks are Spangled Russian Orloffs – see the chick second from the front. They are spangled with a brown base color and white spots. Russian Orloffs are more typically raised for meat but we thought they would add a nice color variety to our flock.

Four week old Blue-Laced Red Wyandotte and Spangled Russian Orloff chicks.

Stay tuned for more updates as the chicks grow up and join the main flock.