Do chicks need the heat lamp constantly?

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My first hens are turning six now. I've bought day old chicks and hatched many too. The past few years, I've pushed the limits on heat and find taking them off after a week or two, depending, has worked fine for me. I even had a brood that freaked out when I cleaned their pen and refused to sleep under the brooder after just one day. It made me wonder why I'm baking the li'l buggers for so long if they get by without the heat. I undoubtedly will ruffle many feathers when I admit I take heat away so soon. There are so many factors to how much heat you need; breed, drafts, quantity of chicks, space..... I just put out 18-two week old and ten 1-week old chicks in their coop outside, no heat. It will be in the mid fifties tonight and I'm not worried at all.

I guess what I'm saying is you eventually get to know what works best for you.

Happy chicking!
 
mommissan said:
My first hens are turning six now. I've bought day old chicks and hatched many too. The past few years, I've pushed the limits on heat and find taking them off after a week or two, depending, has worked fine for me. I even had a brood that freaked out when I cleaned their pen and refused to sleep under the brooder after just one day. It made me wonder why I'm baking the li'l buggers for so long if they get by without the heat. I undoubtedly will ruffle many feathers when I admit I take heat away so soon. There are so many factors to how much heat you need; breed, drafts, quantity of chicks, space..... I just put out 18-two week old and ten 1-week old chicks in their coop outside, no heat. It will be in the mid fifties tonight and I'm not worried at all.

I guess what I'm saying is you eventually get to know what works best for you.

Happy chicking!
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I'm in the same camp you are. I started by following the advice of all the popular books - 95 degrees the 1st week, 90 the 2nd week, etc. Then I watched what happened when one of my broody hens hatched and raised chicks in late March. By the 2nd week, they were spending a good deal of time running around in 50 degree weather, only ducking under the hen occasionally to warm up. They're 3 weeks old and almost completely feathered, as they feather much faster when exposed to cooler temps. They still snuggle under and next to the hen at night, but during the daytime they spend most of their time at ambient temps (now ranging from mid-50s to low 70s).

This means I now provide less heat for brooder-raised chicks, and reduce the heat faster than the books recommend. My brooder-raised chicks are doing great with the cooler temps, and I've had no more issues with chicks getting pasty butt.
 
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I switched to a heating pad hen because it's much more similar to a broody than any bulb could be. I also brood outdoors and found it frustrating to deal with bulbs in the wildly swinging temperatures typical of our springs. Now, I don't worry about over or underheating because they are fully capable of self-management. They switched to the roost by 5 weeks all on their own.
 
Thank you everyone. Very helpful. Has anyone had experience putting chick with adult hens and getting one to take care of the chicks?
 
To be honest no. However I let my chicks run around in giant open space that's inside a building For hours at 75° then I put them in my shirt and caddy mine around. I actually don't own any heat lamps and all my chickens are alive. At night i keep them in a thermal bag with an old sweatshirt inside it that keeps in heat and I wrap it in a blanket. It actually stays at 90 with a clip on temp gauge ... It is much more natural this way. I am off grid no electricity and I am momma hen and do my best to be one like getting them worms and caterpillars all day and wrap them in a small blankie and sleep on my chest .. I really don't understand the red light at all. It's really just not my way but I'm very different no doubt. My oldest chicken poops less than the babies but I know when she's about to and i run her to a pad. I have 6 babies I let run free most the day and watch them play worm football lol.
 

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