brooder advice need help!!

[dcraig]

This is my brooder setup just wondering what everybody thought it's for 10 barred rocks and 15 cornish cross. Any advice would be greatly appreciated

 

[cavemanrich]

Looks good.. When are chicks due??


OH AND

 

[dcraig]

Tomorrow I'm excited. Feel like a kid at Christmas time

 

[21hens-incharge]

OH I bet you wont sleep tonight! Nice set up by the way.
You will have to post pics of the littles of course.

Wishing them safe travels and you some coffee lol

Babs

 

[dcraig]

Thank you just trying to get it up to temperature right now is it 95 degrees under the light or away from the light

 

[aart]

They won't fit in there for long!
Are those totes connected or separate?

Here's my notes on chick heat, hope something in there might help:
They need to be pretty warm(~85F on the brooder floor right under the lamp) for the first day or two, especially if they have been shipped, until they get to eating, drinking and moving around well. But after that it's best to keep them as cool as possible for optimal feather growth and quicker integration to outside temps. A lot of chick illnesses are attributed to too warm of a brooder. I do think it's a good idea to use a thermometer on the floor of the brooder to check the temps, especially when new at brooding, later i still use it but more out of curiosity than need.

The best indicator of heat levels is to watch their behavior:
If they are huddled/piled up right under the lamp and cheeping very loudly, they are too cold.
If they are spread out on the absolute edges of the brooder as far from the lamp as possible, panting and/or cheeping very loudly, they are too hot.
If they sleep around the edge of the lamp calmly just next to each other and spend time running all around the brooder they are juuuust right!

The lamp is best at one end of the brooder with food/water at the other cooler end of the brooder, so they can get away from the heat or be under it as needed. Wattage of 'heat' bulb depends on size of brooder and ambient temperature of room brooder is in. Regular incandescent bulbs can be used, you might not need a 'heat bulb'. You can get red colored incandescent bulbs at a reptile supply source. A dimmer extension cord is an excellent way to adjust the output of the bulb to change the heat without changing the height of the lamp.

 

[dcraig]

Thanks just change it to have two lamps because the one would not get the temp above 80 in brooder. No the totes aren't connected I only plan on the cornish cross to be in it for two weeks tops. I'm going to build a much bigger one for them in my shop just wanted them in the house for first two weeks so they could be monitored closely.

 

[aart]

Thanks just change it to have two lamps because the one would not get the temp above 80 in brooder. No the totes aren't connected I only plan on the cornish cross to be in it for two weeks tops. I'm going to build a much bigger one for them in my shop just wanted them in the house for first two weeks so they could be monitored closely.

Good idea...then you can join them for the other chicks to have more room.

 

[kmartinez]

chicks grow fast really fast, i swear mine grow each day and i mean it really, I have had to adjust my brooder each week making it bigger and fixing to have to do it again. Thank god I am using cloroplast so i can just cut and add on..