Any Tips to starting chicks outdoors?

[RainyDayChickens]

My Easter hatch-a-long chicks moved out of the incubator into the outdoor brooder on Monday despite Frost Advisories for their first two nights out there.

I'm running dual heat sources -- a Big Red Bulb to keep the ambient temperature of the central area warm enough for the brooder plate to function optimally. Once the cold snap is over I'll turn the light off and use just the plate.

My issue is usually worrying about it being too hot rather than too cold and I had a long thread of advice a couple months ago the first time I had to do that.

My Outdoor Brooder is huge -- 4x8 -- because it's a converted small run that I was given. https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/run-to-outdoor-brooder-conversion.76634/

I divide it roughly in half for the first week because of all the horror stories about chicks getting lost and not able to find their heat but my experience is that however many chicks I have, they start using the entire space as soon as I make that space available.

I will admit that when not hatching chicks during a case of severe bronchitis, I generally check on them once or twice in the middle of the night. They're always fine, though sometimes I need to move the lamp up and down on it's change or switch to a different wattage bulb.

Okay, thanks so much! I never really thought about to much heat! That's definitely something I'll consider more now and make my set up better!

 

[3KillerBs]

Okay, thanks so much! I never really thought about to much heat!

That's one of the reasons we ask people to put their general location into their profile.

I'm in the Steamy Southeast of the USA -- central North Carolina where normal summer weather includes weeks of 95F with 95% humidity.

I have to have at least double or triple the usual recommended 1 square foot per adult hen of ventilation or DEEP shade to keep a coop under 100F on a 90F day.

Cold climate people might find this thread of mine amusing (also heartwarming but I won't give spoilers about that). https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...ay-night-so-im-nervous-advice-wanted.1514590/