Brooder Temp...

[dinami]

So today I moved our chicks to this little set up in the garage. The first few days they were in the house. I'm just so nervous about the cold temperatures and it's so hard to get accurate temp readings because they will stand on top of the thermometer. No matter how cold it gets, as long as the heat lamp is there they will be okay, right?!

 

[azygous]

Just watch their behavior. What you want to see is chicks running all over that tub. Not huddled in a clump under the light as if desperate to get warm. And not cringing in a place as far from the heat as they can get.

In the case of the first scenario, you would want to lower the lamp. In the case of the second one, you would want to raise the lamp. You have it hung properly at the very edge of the tub so the chicks will be able to utilize the heat source once it's properly adjusted for height.

Now, throw away the thermometer so you will stop driving yourself crazy with worry because it doesn't read exactly what you think it should. Trust me. Your chicks don't care what the reading is as long as they're not too hot or too cold. You can read the proper temperature far better by watching your chicks.

 

[Ridgerunner]

II can’t answer your question. I have no idea how cold it actually gets in there, what wattage bulb you are using, or how draft free it actually is, thought I suspect very draft free as long as the garage door is closed.

Have you considered reaching in here, picking up the thermometer and looking at it? The chicks really won’t mind that much. I agree with Azygous that the behavior of your chicks is most important, but since this seems to be your first time, you can get a lot of self-confidence with that thermometer. Once you’ve been through it once you will understand much better about their behavior.

The basic set-up looks pretty good to me. They should be able to get away from the lamp if it is too hot in there. That’s important. Since that is so well ventilated (which I like) they will probably spend a lot of time under the heat, but they should roam around some even if it is pretty cold in there. The older they get the more they will roam in the cold. Do you happen to know how cold it gets in that garage at the coldest? If it is an attached garage and you don’t open the main garage door it’s probably reasonably warm. Some of us brood in coops where it gets well below freezing.

Usually by two weeks they can fly really well. But since you have wire sides and they do not have a solid place to land so they will probably stay in there fairly well. You might consider putting some kind of top on there, netting or something, but remember to not start a fire with that heat lamp. Chicken wire might be best.