Brooder lamp to supplement momma heat in February?

[chickenmomma2]

Hi! One of my Buffs went brood 20 days ago and she has 9 eggs under her. I've heard chirping and 3 eggs are beginning to hatch. She has been a VERY GOOD momma and has only been off the nest twice in the past 20 days.

My question is:
I'm in Richmond, VA where our weather is constantly changing. The high today should be 45 but we have a cold north wind screaming across the fields. Over the next 7 days the nightly lows will fluctuate between 25 - 43 and the day highs should be between 46 and 62 with rain and snow in the forecast around the 17th.

The temperature in the coop is 42 right now.

I'm wondering if I should put a brood lamp in the coop for the babies to supplement momma. She is currently in a nest box about 12 inches off the ground. I'm concerned the babies may get out of the nest box and get back to momma. What do you think?

Thanks for your feedback

 

[donnaboydjones]

I live in Washington state and I made a area for my broody hen and her eggs/chicks and put a lamp in there for additional heat. I kept it near the food and water in case the babies left the heat of the mama to eat and drink and they all love it. I say all because even the mama sits under it with her babies. Make sure it's secure though because I read on here someone lost their entire flock when the lamp got knocked down and started a fire. Didn't burn the coop down , but the chickens died from the smoke.=(

 

[chickenmomma2]

Thank you for the advice. I'm going to go ahead and put the light in there. Thanks.

 

[donnaboydjones]

Thank you for the advice. I'm going to go ahead and put the light in there. Thanks.

Your welcome! It's nice to be able to help someone because I've gotten so much help on here. I don't know what I'd do with out this site.

 

[chickenmomma2]

Me too. But, I don't feel like I can give advice yet. I've only been raising chickens for a year.
I just came in from the coop. I have the nursery set up and it's fenced off from the rest of the coop so the momma and babies can be undisturbed. I put the start and grow feed and waterer in. I've secured the brood lamp so it shouldn't fall.

 

[melina90]

I live in Norway, and everyone here tells me my hen will do fine on caring for her chickens even in an unheated (but insulated) coop during the winter. I haven't experienced it myself yet, but going to put eggs under one of my hens next week. Don't know if I'll have the guts to let them go without a heating lamp! But according to other breeders in the area they should do fine.

 

[melina90]

Oh, forgot to mention, the only thing they told me to worry about was to make sure the chickens had access to water all the time, as they easily go dehydrated if the water freezes

 

[chickenmomma2]

Oh wow! In Norway? I imagine it gets quite cold where you are. I would be nervous and put a heat lamp in for sure. I decided to go ahead and put the lamp in. I was glad I did. The last baby hatched and she had gotten out of the nest box and couldn't get back in. It was 12" up. Momma chose the 2nd story instead of the first to go brood.

When I came in to check to see if she had hatched, I found her under the brood lamp with another chick nestled up against her trying to keep her warm. She was so new out of the egg she was still wet.

Thanks to all of you for advice. I ended up with 5 chicks total out of 9 eggs. Not a bad ratio, I think.

 

[heronz]

Yes.
I would.