A few Brooder questions

[Half a dozen]

So the light on the brooder, is this left on or off at night? I know that reptiles lights go off at night as they do have a night time in the wild, is this the same with chicks? The brooder I have ordered is coming with a no slip mat instead of shavings, what do you guys think is best for the brooder bedding? shavings or kitchen towels or mats? Thank you

 

[chickencoop789]

Brooder lamp stays on 24/7. For the first week, I like to use paper towels as the bedding. This allows the chicks to get a good grip on the ground and lets their toes form properly. Then I use shavings (cedar shavings are toxic to chickens so make sure they are pine).

 

[Half a dozen]

Ok thank you, I'll get a whole bunch of paper towels in then, so after one week for my chicks (my chicks will be a Cpl days old maximum, a man who works in my local shop has lots of chickens and has quite a few due to hatch tomorrow onwards) so they will need heat/light for a week constant, after 7 days do I turn it off at bed time? I feel like a new mother worrying about every noise my baby makes haha. I just want them to be cared for correctly, they're innocent babies and its up to me to do it right. They're my first ever chickens so I'm a bit worried hehe

 

[gclark94560]

A real newbie here so take anything I say with a grain of oyster shell!

It's 80 to 90 here in Alabama right now so the lamp is off all day. It still comes on at night (timer) as it can get into the 50s in the very early morning.

I'm going to cut down the hours of artificial light tomorrow.

Today was their first day on the ground. They seemed to adapt quickly and were a royal pain to catch and return to their penthouse in the chicken tractor.

 

[dheltzel]

Leave a light on all the time. It's best to see where the chicks are congregating to tell if they are hot or cold. I also use a desktop lamp dimmer to turn the heat down as they grow.

 

[chickencoop789]

Actually, the lamp should stay on all day for a good 5-6 weeks. The lamp is really for heat, not for lighting up the brooder. There really is no need to replicate a daytime/nighttime type thing.
Don't worry, I was the exact same way when I first got my chicks

 

[Half a dozen]

Ok Thank you,

I will leave it on all the time then and see where they congregate and see what changes need making

 

[gclark94560]

A real newbie here so take anything I say with a grain of oyster shell!

It's 80 to 90 here in Alabama right now so the lamp is off all day. It still comes on at night (timer) as it can get into the 50s in the very early morning.

I'm going to cut down the hours of artificial light tomorrow.

Today was their first day on the ground. They seemed to adapt quickly and were a royal pain to catch and return to their penthouse in the chicken tractor.

OMG - how quick they learn!!

It was a full day for the chicks. I was doing garden and tree cutting work near them all day, so I checked in often. I potted about 22 bare root trees I got today thanks to UPS. While digging in my compost pile I hit a whopper of a nest of grubs. First thought was "STOMP EM"! However the thought of my new "kids" came through and I stopped work and put about 40 of them in a bottle and took them to the chicken tractor.

I dumped them into the cage - and the chicks all ran to the other end!

So I tried to shoo them to the other end - like herding cats! However, either the grubs were highly motivated to find safety or the chicks figured them out because 1/2 hour later, none were to be seen.

The best thing was beddy-by time. Yesterday it took me 10 minutes to catch all the little blighters and put them in the penthouse. Today, they were all already in there waiting on me!!!

Life just gets better.

 

[gclark94560]

Today I was out mowing on the riding mower. It started raining and I worked my way over to the chicken tractor. I was wondering if 3-4 week old chicks had brains enough to come in out of the rain.

When I got there - all 4 were in the Penthouse looking out at me like - "Don't you have sense enough to get out of the rain!"