Chicks in the garage

[Lily V]

I personally do not like heat lamps inside the house. I assume your house is climate controlled and your temperatures are in the 70's Fahrenheit. Inside a house with a relatively small brooder it is easy to overheat the chicks. I strongly suggest that inside your house you use the heat plate and not the heat lamp.

A broody hen can raise chicks even in freezing temperatures without any supplemental heat. They come out to eat, drink, and play until they get cold then they go back under her to warm up. Their first two or three days they tend to spend a lot of time under her but soon they spend a surprising amount of time in the cold.

Good post from Finnie.

I understand these are your first and you are really worried. Having them in your house is probably best for you. But many of us (me included) have the brooder in the main coop. Totally unheated coop. I put chicks in there straight from the incubator or post office, even with temperatures below freezing. I use a heat lamp to keep one area toasty warm even in the coldest temperatures but the brooder is big enough and ventilation good enough that in the warmest weather they can find a cool spot. On really cold days there might be frost on the brooder walls but the chicks have a toasty area. Inside your garage it doesn't get that cold so you can set up the heat plate or heat lamp either one. Just make sure it does not overheat if you use the heat lamp and the weather gets warm.

Most chicks feather out by 4 to maybe 5 weeks old. Once they are fully feathered they can handle the temperatures in your garage. As long as you can do it safely there is nothing wrong with providing them a warm spot. It will not hurt a thing. But don't be shocked if they decide not to use it.

Thank you so much!

 

[Finnie]

I really just want to make sure that they will be warm enough. It is around 10 degrees out today but our garage is heated at between 40-50 degrees and I heard that may not be warm enough even with the heat lamp or brooder plate.

At 40-50 they will be fine! I don’t know who said that wouldn’t be warm enough, but it isn’t true. You have everything you need, and you can keep them in the laundry room or the garage just fine.

 

[Lily V]

At 40-50 they will be fine! I don’t know who said that wouldn’t be warm enough, but it isn’t true. You have everything you need, and you can keep them in the laundry room or the garage just fine.

Thank you so much! We are so excited but nervous. We aren’t farmers and so we are fairly certain these chicks will be more like family pets that will occasionally give us eggs, lol. We are SOFT, lol.