250 watt bulb??

[moduckman]

The chicks will let you know if it is too warm or cold. See where they lay. If they are spread further from the light, raise the bulb. If they are huddled real close and chirping a lot they are cold, lower the bulb or get high watt bulb. I take my chicks out fairly early. I place them in a wind-proof container after they are dried in the incubator and place them in the barn in a large water tank I purchased at a flea market for $45 (the bottom had several small holes). In the tank I have ample bedding, food and water at one end with a 125W heat lamp and another at the middle of the tank. I also add a bag of top soil at the far end (they'll eventually will love this). The tank is large enough for them to stay for several weeks. During the frigid months I will cover the tank almost all the way with a sheet of thin plywood.

 

[Akane]

250w is way too high at room temp. A 60w bulb can get my aquarium brooders to go off the thermometer which reads up to 110F. Usually I have to raise up a 60w bulb and then switch to a 40w unless I use a large pen for a small amount of birds. Like right now I have a 100w over the button quail brooder but it's a 3' long aquarium for those tiny bumble bee sized chicks so they have plenty of space to find the right temp. I haven't used higher than 100w on an indoor brooder and rarely that. A 60w is nearly always enough.

Outside is different. That's where you want the 250w bulbs. At around 8weeks you could move them outside if you have the 250w heat lamp out there for them.

 

[Ms Ellen]

My experience was that 250 watt bulb was way too hot. In my small indoor brooder the lamp could not be high enough to get the floor temp down to 90 degrees. Instead I needed a 60 or 100 watt bulb. A brooder for the first two weeks for a 25 chick order does not need to be that big. I used an extra large dog crate and brooded inside for a few weeks. I put a thermometer on the floor and adjusted how high the lamp was so the temp was 90 degrees. Then the chicks could move away from the lamp to the other side so the temp was more like room temperature so I didn't worry about the temperature. This was all inside with the batch from this summer.

My current (2nd) batch of chicks is now out in the unheated garage in a little coop with a raised "house" and a little run that sets on the garage floor. They have a heat lamp with a 65 watt bulb inside the little house. I moved them out there at 4 weeks because I couldn't stand them inside any longer, they were starting to stink even with the special bedding. The chick dander was starting to get thick too.

With your temps you could easily keep chicks warm enough after they were a few weeks old in a building outside. Just keep an eye on them and see if they look comfortable. I saw someone mention a wireless thermometer that you could read the temps from in the house. I am thinking of getting one for the brooder. The temperatures here go all over the place from 70 degrees to about 15 degrees. And that has just been in the last month! At least with the run I know they can get away from the lamp. I worry more about "roasted" chicks than cold chicks! We do enjoy having them inside the first two weeks though, they are soo cute!

 

[The Monkey Mama]

I'm in GA too and you don't need a 250 watt bulb - inside or out.

I use a 100 watt bulb and just leave it alone till the chicks are old enough to be without it. I don't mess with taking the temperature - as long as they are moving around and look comfy I don't worry about it.

I move mine out around 4 weeks to a draft free outside brooder [a wooden box built for this purpose and full of pine shavings] and move the brooder light out there with them - still the 100 watt bulb.

I've brooded almost 40 chicks this way this winter and I haven't lost any.

I think some books make it sound way more complicated than it really needs to be - as long as they have a 100 watt bulb mine have done just fine - been happy as can be - outside after 4 weeks. And I've never had any problem even though I don't watch the temp when I have them inside and lower it by 5 degrees each week - I've raised over 100 chicks doing this in the last 6 months and have had no trouble with them.

Good luck! Enjoy your babies!

Kelly

 

[bloomnbeauty]

I have raised all but my first hatch outside. I love my birds but the dander they generate makes me deathly ill.
I use a 100 watt bulb in a wooden 2'x2' brooder in a shelter for small hatches and have not had any problems and no lost chicks. I have had several freezing nights.. yes we get those even in Florida..lol with no other heat source. I do however have a curtain that I drape over the brooder when freezes are expected. They stay in this brooder for two weeks or until they seem to outgrow it then move to a larger brooder outside, still with a 100 watt bulb. Usually by the time they have outgrown this one they are ready to be put in the larger coops, around 8 to 10 weeks of age. At that time I turn the light off in the daytime to gradually wean them from the need for the extra heat.

 

[tfpets]

Quote:
This is the one I've used this past year with great success, we use it in an outdoor coop and enclosed "Brooder" space, even now in the cold weather, and have not had to use the second bulb option, the highest watt bulb I've used is an 85 watt, and it was very cozy under there...the chicks learn to come in and out for food and water, and as they get older, they learn I am the treat lady!
An awesome set up for us!
Tina/tfpets