Woodville Ace starts selling chicks before anyone else in our area. Spring chicks mature fast and for most breeds start laying eggs at 18 weeks. Our brooder is set up and we have a good selection of common chicks ($4.00 each) to get you started. Of course it will be at least 8 weeks before they can go outside into your coop since they have no feathers or fat to protect them from the cold.
When it comes time to start introducing your 6-8 week old chicks outside do it very slowly. choose a warm sunny afternoon, set them out in the shade first for a few hours. I use an old dog crate without the tray, so they can scratch in the dirt. For about a week or so leave them out a little longer each day and eventually let them in the coop, if these are your only chicks.
If you are introducing them to an existing flock or older chickens, you need to keep them in a separate area or crate inside the coop, so they can figure out their pecking order through wire before they are allowed to be loose together. When that day comes to put them together, do it at night while they are on the roost. Set your young chickens beside the adults in the dark. when they wake up they usually accept the new comers as part of the flock. But still watch them to make sure no one is getting picked on. If so they go back in the crate and try again in a few days.
