Critique my Brooder setup plus advice for delivery day

[ForFlocksSake]

Yeah as long as they know where the heat is (and you've placed them under twice now) and the brooder isn't so huge that they'd get lost (yours isn't) then I trust them to decide for themselves where they're more comfortable. It's usually cooler when I brood and even then, with 2-3 day olds, they'll generally opt to spend more time away from the heat than under it.

I’m actually surprised to see how little time they’ve spent near any of my heat sources. Where did this 95 degree concept come from? Most websites recommend consistent 95 then lowering 5 degrees per week. Mine were very content in 80 degrees today. I don’t think I saw any of them go under the plate.

Thanks for all your advice. I’m feeling a lot better. Just checked on them and they are snuggled in the dark under the plate. I touched it and it feels nice and warm under there.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Where did this 95 degree concept come from? Most websites recommend consistent 95 then lowering 5 degrees per week.

I think it comes from large commercial set ups, to ensure as many chicks grow quickly with as little need for adjustments or variance as possible? I'm just guessing. I tried following that same guideline with my first batch of chicks until it became very clear it was simply too hot (pasty butt, and the chicks were constantly standing on the end away from the heat lamp).

Thanks for all your advice. I’m feeling a lot better. Just checked on them and they are snuggled in the dark under the plate. I touched it and it feels nice and warm under there.

That sounds right, I generally only expect to see chicks under it while sleeping. They'll stay under through the night and then usually only dip in for naps, which quickly become less frequent as they grow.

 

[NatJ]

I’m actually surprised to see how little time they’ve spent near any of my heat sources. Where did this 95 degree concept come from? Most websites recommend consistent 95 then lowering 5 degrees per week. Mine were very content in 80 degrees today. I don’t think I saw any of them go under the plate.

I have always raised chicks with one small area about 95 degrees, or sometimes warmer yet. Since I used a heat lamp, that warm space would be surrounded by some less-warm space, with the temperature decreasing as they got further from the heat lamp, preferably in a brooder so large that the far end is not being heated at all. I haven't bothered with the fuss of adjusting the heat lamp to lower the temperature. With a large enough brooder, and one warm corner, the chicks will lower their own temperature as they grow, by spending more time away from the heat.

What I have done is pretty much what everyone was recommending when I first started raising chickens a few decades ago: 95 degrees directly under the heat lamp, usually with some diagrams of chicks clumped (under the lamp, they need more heat; away from the lamp, they need less heat; scattered all around, the temperature is fine.) The advice usually included lowering the temperature (of the warm area) by 5 degrees each week (by raising the heat lamp.)

Now it seems that the common advice has changed. Some advice says to use a brooder plate and no heat lamp, while some others think chicks need 95 degrees all over, the exact same temperature at all parts of their brooder. A consistent warm temperature might be appropriate for a farm with thousands of chicks, but for most people raising small numbers of chicks it does not work well. It is MUCH easier to have one place warm enough (or even too hot), and lots of cool space, and let the chicks move around to find the temperature they want at any given time. Chicks are quite good at that.

For comparison: a broody hen is warmer than 95 degrees, she never lowers her temperature, but she does not heat the space around her. So the "natural" way of raising chicks is for them to have one warm place (under the hen) and everything else at whatever temperature is normal for that season & climate. Providing a brooder plate, or a heat lamp in one corner of a large space, is a fairly good substitute.

 

[NatJ]

I’m actually surprised to see how little time they’ve spent near any of my heat sources. Where did this 95 degree concept come from?

I just did a little more poking around.

https://content.libraries.wsu.edu/digital/collection/ext/id/1456
This is a bulletin on raising chicks, from 1925
On page 5, it talks about setting up a brooder, with the heat provided by a "hover," and a guard around it to keep the chicks relatively close.
They want 100 degrees right under the hover, and 80 degrees at the guard during the first few days. That keeps the chicks from going too far and getting lost or too cold.

So I would say the idea of 95 degrees (or at least something close to it) has been around for at least a century. But notice that is not 95 all over the space, just in part of it.