Blooie thanks so much for being so detailed with your instructions. I set a heat pad over wire i.e. Mama heat pad style, but the heat temp only registered 89 at the highest. Once I turned off the light they all snuggled inside close together but I worried that 89 wasn't high enough. Is 95 an absolute, or is 89 close enough? I lost one chick yesterday but I don't know why- clear vent, clear eyes, it was active, and appeared to be sleeping. That's when I put the heat lamp back up. This is my first time ever with chicks, I brought home 6 from TSC. The heat lamp setup is giving me nightmares, but I'm worried about the heat pad being warm enough.
The "must be 95F for a week, then 90F for a week, then ..." is bull. Maybe they need that in big poultry operations where they are growing out layers or meat birds but you will NEVER EVER find a hen keeping the chicks at 95F 24x7 for a week then turning down her thermostat 5F every week.
7 chicks hatched Monday June 8, 2015 at Meyer Hatchery in Ohio. Arrived the Wednesday morning June 10th and went into a small brooder box with MHP in our bedroom. Tried putting them under the hen at "0 not quite dark thirty" Wednesday night but she didn't seem receptive and I was nervous she would hurt them. Planned to try again at "0 dark thirty" but a nasty T-storm whipped up so that was delayed. They spent Wed night and Thursday in their MHP equipped brooder in the bedroom. Not one peep overnight. Under the hen at "0 really dark thirty Thursday night".
This is them on Wednesday morning in their brooder. You can just see the edge of the pad in the back. Front row White Rock and EE. Back row EE and BA (non standard, they had yellow legs and feet. One now at 8 months old still has yellow foot bottoms and they both have black legs. Suggests to me someone threw a Jersey Giant in the gene pool sometime in the past):
And on Friday morning out in the coop. Day time temp 76F, overnight 61F. See how 4 day old chicks are NOT hiding under the hen? See how they do NOT need 95F or anywhere near that???