Brooder Brooder Help!!!

[Shauna's Silkies]

HI all, i have a box brooder with a cover on it where the light is!!! and there is a few holes in it!!
but what im wondering about is how to lower the heat each week!!!! HELP HELP PLEASE!!! chicks due in three days!!

 

[alaynalynn]

Can you move the brooder further away from the light sourse? It's hard to comment without a picture. I had a plastic brooder. The light was attached to a shelf above it and as the weeks past, I moved the box further and further away...seemed to work.

 

[TheJuan-n-Only]

Not sure if you already got the lamp, but mine has a dimmer on it. Is a reptile lamp and it worked great!

 

[Shauna's Silkies]

Thanks some people change the watt each week but that will cost a bit!!! will it!!!

 

[Shauna's Silkies]

http://shop.ebay.ie/?_from=R40&_trksid=m570&_nkw=brooder#

Its the 3rd one under the thermometer

 

[Judy]

usually the temp is lowered by raising the heat lamp. I have a feeling you will have trouble with a brooder with only a few holes in the top. They need plenty of fresh air, or the ammonia and heat and fluff they give off will be trapped in there, and could harm or even kill them. Have you put a thermometer in there to see what the temp is without the chicks? For a cover I used bird netting, intended to be put over fruit trees or plants to keep birds away, and the heat was mounted outside the brooder so I could move it easily.

 

[lorain's fids]

Hi, I am 2 weeks into having baby chicks. What we did was move the light farther away from the crate, we were using a 100watt red flood lite bulb. Last night was the first night with out the heat lamp on, it's been warm here and there staying in my wash room, so the temp ranges from 75 to 80. When I went to tuck them in for the night last night and I shut the regular light off, they "told" me right away that they didn't like the dark, I had to find a nite light to use.

 

[MuckyPuppy]

It wouldn't cost me very much at all if I wanted to change the wattage each week as they are only going to be under heat for 3 to 4 weeks. That would be three or four bulbs that I would reuse for the next time. As it is, my first brooder was a huge child's plastic toy container (scrounged from one of my kids' rooms) with the light above it, stationary light. Now, in my second brooder, I raise my light/s for temperature control and this brooder is a 3' 3" framed child pool/sandbox (there are were only 8 chicks from the last hatch) with the light/s hanging from a frame above it because the growing chicks needed a lot more room to run and chase eachother. Everything will be cleaned and reused. The new chicks will go into the toy container with a light for the first week or so. By the time they have outgrown that container the oldest will be off heat and outside and then they go into the pool/sandbox.

Edited for clarification.

 

[Sinfonian]

I found it a bit of a challenge to get 95 degrees, walking it down 5 degrees every week. I ended up hanging it from a chain from the ceiling. Worked well after I got it set up. I just used a window screen to cover my brooder though. Good luck.

 

[Shauna's Silkies]

Thanks everyone. That is brillant advice.. il change the watt every week .... thanks!..