90°

[chadtheartist]

My brooder has a ceiling of about 14 inches. And a heat lamp in that ceiling. I have a thermostat that shuts the heat lamp off when it reaches 90°. The problem is that directly under the lamp is 105° . But the thermostat about 6 inches away doesn't register that 105° temp. Will the rest of the brooder be warm enough? Will the chicks stay out from directly under the lamp if they need to? They have lots of horizontal space and plenty of ventilation. How accurate does the temp have to be?

 

[Fred's Hens]

Not very accurate.

As long as there is a warm circle where the chicks lay down comfortably, without piling up, to sleep, you're fine. The birds will self regulate and move away from the heat as they need to.

Once the birds are 2 weeks old and they are larger and the days of spring grow warmer, lower the wattage in the bulb. I usually buy just red, decorative bulbs at Lowes from wattage of 150, to 75 and progress my way down the wattage with each week of the chicks conditioning. You can also raise the bulb to decrease it's power output a bit.

 

[chadtheartist]

I can change the temp on the thermostat. But it won't go higher than 90°. But i can set it to shut the heat lamp off at progressively lower temperatures.

 

[chadtheartist]

is it ok that my thermostat won't reach 95? the first week since it still gets 102 right under the lamp?
and should I set it lower the third and fourth weeks? since the whole brooder doesn't reach 95 degrees anyway?

 

[Fred's Hens]

I rarely go 95. That is usually quite unnecessary.

 

[CrazyChickGirl]

To me it sounds a bit warm. As long as there is a spot that is 90, the entire brooder does not need to be 90 by any means.

 

[CrazyChickGirl]

And in all honesty I have never taken the temp in mine. I watch them closely and always err on the cooler side. The ambient air temp is always pretty warm though because our brooder is inside, so I don't worry much.

 

[aart]

Why use a thermostat? Never heard of that one.

I use a dimmer extension cord to adjust the wattage output instead of screwing around with raising and lowering the light.