Are they too hot?

[ShockValue]

My Faverolles seem pretty puffy and sleepy at times. They eat, drink, poop.. Etc.. All seems OK, but compared to the other 3 we have (EE, Sussex, Wynadotte) they seem pretty low energy and puffy.

They breathe a lot harder than the other 3 do as well. I haven't seen "beaks open and panting", but their heavy breathing when they're laying down is very noticeable.

Could be their personalities, their feathers coming in.. Etc.. I'm new at this, so I'm a bit worried I don't have something perfect for them.

The only thing keeping me from raising the lamp at this point is that they DO have cooler places in the brooder to escape too if they wanted. They're rarely dead center under the lamp, but somewhere halfway between the coolest place and dead center of heat.

Made a video, perhaps someone with a more trained eye can give me some advice?

 

[foreverlearning]

Wings spread (not fully touching the body) and heavy breathing is too hot. Puffed up and standing with a drowsy head is too cold.

 

[nobodyherebutuschickens]

Chickens usually know when to move out of the heat, don't they? You could probably stick a thermometer near the chicks to check and see. They do also spread out when they find a nice warm sunbeam, so they might just be enjoying themselves. Are they drinking enough water?

 

[foreverlearning]

Usually they do but like people there are a few dense ones out there. I had one that stayed under the heat lamp trying to overheat even after it was fully feathered. I had to just cut it off, now that one loves to sunbathe. You are right a good supply of cool water will help them cool down if they need it.

 

[ShockValue]

They do seem to drink regularly, and I keep their water full and clean.
.
Meant to say these are 4 weeks old but not fully feathered yet.

 

[donrae]

I don't think there's any area in that brooder that's especially cooler. You should move the heat lamp to one side, maybe even only partly over the edge. Just warm one spot on the side. Heating the middle pretty much makes the whole brooder pretty darn warm.

 

[debid]

Is that a 250W bulb? It's difficult to not overheat a cardboard box with one of those. I'd swap it for a lower wattage bulb. Even if it's white, a 100W should be plenty in a house.

 

[CrazyChickGirl]

I was going to also say that we keep our lamp to the very side of our brooder. So there is more of a range of temps if they sit in the center or to the other side where there food is. They do look a little warm. By 4 weeks they should not need a lot of heat. I would probably switch to a lower wattage and position it to the side more.

 

[CrazyChickGirl]

Better to be a little cool then too hot, I think.

 

[ShockValue]

So last night I raised up the lamp by 6 inches or so and moved it off to one side instead of being in the middle. They didn't complain, but the Faverolles were still being lazy and lounging around most of the day.

Tonight I left the lamp in the same position but put in the 100w white light instead of the 250w red. I will monitor for the next few hours to see if they are acting cold to make sure the change isn't too drastic.


Wow though - The red lamp was way to hot to touch for quite a few minutes, so I turned it off and let it cool. I knew that a few minutes without the light wouldn't harm them.. But BOY did they protest. Aggressive huddling and displeased chirping was obvious. So apparently they still want SOME heat

Thanks for the replies so far.