ok i thought it would work having the chicks and ducklings in the same brooder...but its not...although all hatched on the same day, the ducklings are growing faster than the chicks and squashing them so i need to seperate them....but i only have one heat lamp (and arent going into the city until at least next week so cant buy another until then) chicks and ducklings are 6 days old now. if i put the brooders side by side and suspended the heat lamp in the middle do you think they'd be warm enough? theres 15 ducklings and 19 chicks..so they have body warmth too??
You could fill a sock with rice and pop it in the microwave for a minute. They stay toasty warm for quite a while. I've also used water bottles filled with hot water in a pinch, but the rice socks work better. Good luck!
If you can get one area of each brooder up to temperature doing that, it should work wonderfully. Just don't start a fire. I keep one area in my brooder up to temperature and let the rest cool off as it will, usually 10 to 15 degrees C or even more below the "recommended" temperatures. They play all over the brooder and go back to the heat when they need to. They really don't need to very often. I consider this varied temperature brooder the ideal. That way I don't have to worry about keeping the entire brooder the perfect temperature. They find their own comfort zone.
