Ambient temperature for baby chicks

[Sheltiepawz]

Hi all. I have 7, 7 day old chicks today. Unfortunately, we are going through a heat wave that doesn’t look to be letting up soon. They are in a brooder in the garage (metal livestock waterer). The garage is staying at a consistent 88 degrees so I turned off the heat the past day as they seemed to be staying away from it. They are running around and having a ball eating, drinking, pooping. They cluster together sometimes to sleep. I checked with a heat gun and the temperature where they lay together is 90-92. My question is will garage become to hot for them as they mature? Will I need to make plans to relocate them to inside the house? I’m more worried about them becoming to hot. They haven’t shown any behavior to indicate they are to hot thus far. Just content little peeps.

 

[Chicken Heel]

Turning the heat off is a good thing. I moved my 6 three week old chicks outside to my grow off coop yesterday with no supplemental heat and even with temperatures in the mid 60's this morning, they were bouncing around eating and drinking at daylight this morning. They are feathered out for the most part though or I wouldn't have chanced it.

As an update to my post from earlier in the week, my young birds have made it great this week. This after being 90 degrees on Monday afternoon and 46 degrees this morning. They are also fully feathered out at not quite 4 weeks old which I have never witnessed with my prior chicks. And they are spunky boogers as well.

 

[Chicken Heel]

Turning the heat off is a good thing. I moved my 6 three week old chicks outside to my grow off coop yesterday with no supplemental heat and even with temperatures in the mid 60's this morning, they were bouncing around eating and drinking at daylight this morning. They are feathered out for the most part though or I wouldn't have chanced it.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Hi all. I have 7, 7 day old chicks today. Unfortunately, we are going through a heat wave that doesn’t look to be letting up soon. They are in a brooder in the garage (metal livestock waterer). The garage is staying at a consistent 88 degrees so I turned off the heat the past day as they seemed to be staying away from it. They are running around and having a ball eating, drinking, pooping. They cluster together sometimes to sleep. I checked with a heat gun and the temperature where they lay together is 90-92. My question is will garage become to hot for them as they mature? Will I need to make plans to relocate them to inside the house? I’m more worried about them becoming to hot. They haven’t shown any behavior to indicate they are to hot thus far. Just content little peeps.

Welcome To BYC!

Do you have your coop and run ready for your chicks?
If you do, then I would go ahead and transition them to the coop and finish brooding them there. You can still set up your heat plate or lamp just in case the weather turns cool at night.

 

[Sheltiepawz]

Welcome To BYC!

Do you have your coop and run ready for your chicks?
If you do, then I would go ahead and transition them to the coop and finish brooding them there. You can still set up your heat plate or lamp just in case the weather turns cool at night.

No unfortunately not. My husband will be starting this weekend. I am not sure it will help though since outside is even more miserable. I guess I will pull them inside if they show signs of becoming to hot. Right now I have fans moving air away from brooded and the windows open when the temperature outside drops to below the room temperature.

 

[Sheltiepawz]

Good luck on your coop build! Take photos so you can make a coop page
Fans are good, I think they will be fine at those temps, chicks do have a harder time regulating temperature, but if you aren't seeing signs of heat stress, I would leave them in the garage (minus the heat lamp). Just keep watch on them like you are doing. Weather will eventually change/cool down and they will be acclimated to ups/downs in temps instead of being at a controlled temp like inside a home.

I will make sure to take lots of pictures. We are planning on the Wichita style, but with more windows and ventilation as it can be extremely hot here. it doesn’t get very cold. I’m thinking of actually making a huge window on the part that opens to coop and just leave it open air most of the time. I could hang a tarp if it was to get cold in winter. Everything will be covered with a roof to help with shade.

Thank you for the response about the heat. I am keeping a very close eye on them. I had no idea I would stress about them so much. Since the moment I received the email they were shipped I’ve been worrying about them lol!

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Im in Oklahoma which gets hot, and we brooded keets in the garage. I figured that the keets need to get comfortable with the ambient heat, so I didn’t stress that they were warmer than recommended temps for their age. I did have a thermometer and make sure it didn’t get over 95 F. As they got older, I’d open the garage door so they could experience ambient temps for a few hours while I could watch that predators didn’t sneak in.

 

[Sheltiepawz]

Im in Oklahoma which gets hot, and we brooded keets in the garage. I figured that the keets need to get comfortable with the ambient heat, so I didn’t stress that they were warmer than recommended temps for their age. I did have a thermometer and make sure it didn’t get over 95 F. As they got older, I’d open the garage door so they could experience ambient temps for a few hours while I could watch that predators didn’t sneak in.

Thank you! This make me feel better. Yes, I’ve been opening the door to let the heat out as long as one of us is there to keep watch!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I will make sure to take lots of pictures. We are planning on the Wichita style, but with more windows and ventilation as it can be extremely hot here. it doesn’t get very cold. I’m thinking of actually making a huge window on the part that opens to coop and just leave it open air most of the time. I could hang a tarp if it was to get cold in winter. Everything will be covered with a roof to help with shade.

Thank you for the response about the heat. I am keeping a very close eye on them. I had no idea I would stress about them so much. Since the moment I received the email they were shipped I’ve been worrying about them lol!

Sounds good! I look forward to seeing your coop when it's done

LOL Welcome to the world of backyard chickens! Oh yes...worrying about chicks or eggs in the mail is very normal! Worrying over an incubator wondering how a hatch is going to go - normal! Watching chickens all day long - normal!
Your family looking at you like you've lost your mind when you tell them that your hen pooped - normal (this is why BYC exists - it's so us normal people can have a good conversation)

 

[Sheltiepawz]

That’s good to hear yours are doing well.
Ugh! I just want it to cool down to at least the 80s. It’s been miserable!!!