Chicks 2 days old

[Baypeppard]

My chicks hatched successfully, my question is, does the heat lamp have to be on them 24/7 (they do have a dark section in there) or do I turn it off for nighttime

 

[Shezadandy]

My chicks hatched successfully, my question is, does the heat lamp have to be on them 24/7 (they do have a dark section in there) or do I turn it off for nighttime

Chicks need the heat 24/7

 

[Shezadandy]

My chicks hatched successfully, my question is, does the heat lamp have to be on them 24/7 (they do have a dark section in there) or do I turn it off for nighttime

Look into doing a mama heating pad (MHP) - that gets the chicks on a daylight schedule from the start and mimics what instinct tells the chicks to do - duck under something warm to sleep or to warm up.

Do you have a heating pad that is "constant on" - i.e. not a kind that turns off automatically after 2 hrs?

Chicks are hard wired to want to press their backs into a warm surface (underside of a hen). To test this out, cup your hands over your chicks- they'll start pushing into your hands.

There are literally hundreds of ways to do this- and many threads about it.

Here's my version: I started with 2 of the kind of wire tray you screw into a cabinet door to hold foil or saran wrap. Then I bent the bottom shelf out to have it taper off so chicks could choose their level of contact. (those looking for more heat go to the lowest area. I put a washcloth over one of the frames. Then the heating pad on top of that. Then another washcloth on top of the heating pad. Frame #2 gets put over the top so the washcloths and heating pad are sandwiched together. Then I used zip ties to secure them to each other. Just make sure there are no places a baby's head could slip through- so tight tight tight. Then over the top of the thing is a hand towel that gets replaced 2x a day. Much lower electricity bill and the fire danger goes way down... and the chicks get the most natural setting we can give them without a hen.

 

[Shezadandy]

Other ideas:

https://the-chicken-chick.com/brooder-safety-fear-heat-lamp/

 

[aart]

My chicks hatched successfully, my question is, does the heat lamp have to be on them 24/7 (they do have a dark section in there) or do I turn it off for nighttime

Chicks need the heat 24/7

Yes, they need heat 24/7...and also a cooler place in brooder.

Here's my notes on chick heat, hope something in there might help:

They need to be pretty warm (~85°-90F/30-32C)on the brooder floor right under the lamp and 10-20 degrees cooler at the other end of brooder) 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 acclimation 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'. If you do use a heat bulb make sure it's specifically for poultry, some heat bulbs for food have teflon coatings that can kill birds. 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.

Or you could go with a heat plate, commercially made or DIY: http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/pseudo-brooder-heater-plate