Chicks not sleeping under brooder

[dbounds10]

Me again! I have 9 chicks age 15-19 days old in a dog cage brooder in my spare room. Room temp is around 73F. As you can see in the pic, I have a brooder plate as high as it will go and a hanging sweater heater hanging a little higher than the brooder plate. I spend a lot of time in there during the day checking on them, spot cleaning food and water etc, and most none of them go under the plate. They will nap under the hanging heater. The last couple of nights I have snuck in to check on them before bed and they are all in a pile as far away from the heaters as they can get. At this age everything I see says they should be at 80-85 F there is no way it’s that warm in the room not under a heater. I turn out the room light at about 5pm and let the natural light from the windows go down. I wonder if they lose sight and can’t find the heat? Should I leave a night light for them? They are piled up but not complaining. Is it time to take out the heat already? Maybe remove the brooder plate and raise the hanging heater higher? Thoughts?

 

[Firsttimehens1234]

Me again! I have 9 chicks age 15-19 days old in a dog cage brooder in my spare room. Room temp is around 73F. As you can see in the pic, I have a brooder plate as high as it will go and a hanging sweater heater hanging a little higher than the brooder plate. I spend a lot of time in there during the day checking on them, spot cleaning food and water etc, and most none of them go under the plate. They will nap under the hanging heater. The last couple of nights I have snuck in to check on them before bed and they are all in a pile as far away from the heaters as they can get. At this age everything I see says they should be at 80-85 F there is no way it’s that warm in the room not under a heater. I turn out the room light at about 5pm and let the natural light from the windows go down. I wonder if they lose sight and can’t find the heat? Should I leave a night light for them? They are piled up but not complaining. Is it time to take out the heat already? Maybe remove the brooder plate and raise the hanging heater higher? Thoughts?

Are they peeping loud when they are not under it?
Chicks are good at knowing when they want warmth and if they nap under it they know where to find it which is good
if a hen would raise them the chicks would be under her way less than you think and as long as they don’t make sighs that they’re cold I would think they are ok
they also keep each other warm but if you are very worried that they don’t get enough heat you could put them under the heater after they’ve gone to bed

 

[dbounds10]

Are they peeping loud when they are not under it?
Chicks are good at knowing when they want warmth and if they nap under it they know where to find it which is good
if a hen would raise them the chicks would be under her way less than you think and as long as they don’t make sighs that they’re cold I would think they are ok
they also keep each other warm but if you are very worried that they don’t get enough heat you could put them under the heater after they’ve gone to bed

Nope they are not making a peep lol. Once the sun is down the room goes silent. The brooder plate has really turned into a roost lol. No one goes under it hardly at all anymore. They prefer the other one that is a tad higher when they nap. I was just worried that they lost the daylight and couldn’t see to get to the heat. However you make a good point that they are not screaming for help.

 

[Firsttimehens1234]

Nope they are not making a peep lol. Once the sun is down the room goes silent. The brooder plate has really turned into a roost lol. No one goes under it hardly at all anymore. They prefer the other one that is a tad higher when they nap. I was just worried that they lost the daylight and couldn’t see to get to the heat. However you make a good point that they are not screaming for help.

If they roost on top of the heater some heat does also get to them I can see that they are almost 3 weeks so they are probably also stating to try and roost.
I would only start to worry if they show sighs that they are cold
good luck with the chicks

 

[rosemarythyme]

You're providing too much heat IMO. They do not need the entire brooder to be 80-85 and your room's ambient temperature is already pretty warm. Chicks need to be able to cool off just as they need access to heat when they require it.

Just the brooder plate or just the sweeter heater (I have no experience with one, so correct me if I'm wrong on how it's used - I assume it heats the ambient temperature of space just beneath it) should be plenty of heat at this age. Given that you said they're not using the plate and instead choosing the heater, they're telling you they no longer need the heat from the plate.