1 Week Old Chicks in the Garage - hot outside

[angelb]

Hi all. I have a mix of 12 various egg laying chicks that are all a week old as of today. I have them set up in a 5 foot circular pen in my garage with a heat lamp over the center of it. My concern is that this week it's supposed to get up into the high 80s and low 90s and I think the garage will be even warmer inside. I plan to put their light on a timer to shut off around 10am and go back on around 8pm. How concerned should I be about the temperature in the garage midday though? I'm leaving the garage door open about a foot ot two at the bottom (closed completely at night). Would a fan help at all? Is there anything else I can do to help them through this hot week? The chicks are unsupervised from 8:30am to 3:30pm so I won't be able to check on them during that time period.

 

[txbioteacher]

I am also interested in replies to this question. My chicks ship today from Welp Hatchery. I had initially planned to keep them on the back porch, but was told I'd be better to keep them in the garage. We're supposed to be hitting 100 for the next several days here in south Texas. Should I keep the ceiling fan on out there and a floor fan too? It's 84 degrees in the garage already at 8:30 am. It gets HOT in the garage... Especially if I'm running the dryer.

 

[SarahFair]

I had mine in the garage at temps in the low 90s. Now that its gotten hotter Ive kicked all my big chickens out of their coops to the life of free ranging and keeping them in the coop @ 5 weeks. They love it. But at 1 week I wouldnt do that. You should be fine for awhile if you have a window that can pick up a breeze imo

just watch to see if the are getting hot

 

[Judy]

Tx, I can't imagine why you should brood in the garage if you have a breezy and shaded porch available; that would be perfect. Certainly, a garage heated by a clothes dryer isn't a good idea.

I don't know a good solution to these situations. They will tolerate outdoor midday temps if in the shade and they have a breeze or some good ventilation. If the heat can build up, you could end up cooking them. I would be hesitant to put a fan on chicks so young, though one pulling air out of the area and not blowing right on them might be OK.

 

[angelb]

The garage window is not the type that opens so I have the large garage door open partially for a breeze. So you think they'll be ok if the temp inside the garage hits 95-100 for a few hours? Do you think a fan would be helpful in this situation?

For the person in texas...I'm not positive because most of my bird experience is with parrots but I'm thinking that it might not be a good idea to run the drying if the exhaust is going out into the garage. Birds have really sensitive lungs. Hopefully someone else can chime in.

 

[angelb]

Ok if I use a fan I'll make sure to not point it directly at them.

 

[Judy]

Quote:
Why not open it all the way? Certainly a fan would be better than nothing, but it does not sound like there would be any cross ventilation. 100 is a bit high.

 

[Elwar]

Hmm, I didn't know about turning off the heat lamp during the day...

We've been having 100 degree temperatures here and I just got my chicks this weekend. I put them in the garage in a box with the heat lamp pointing to one end of the box, leaving the other end a little cooler. I put a temperature guage in there and it's been staying at 90 degrees under the lamp.

Though the garage is right next to an air conditioned door...so it might be a bit cooler.

The chicks seem to be fine, hanging out mainly on the side where the heat lamp is.

 

[angelb]

We've been a bit wary of opening the door all the way because we have a lot of expensive tools and lawn equipment and no one will be around to moniter the house.