Confused!

[Standoutcheetah]

Hello! I have 15 -3.5 (I think) week old chicks. A few of them had puffed up or ruffled feathers and I’m a new chicken tender paranoid about cocci. I posted my setup to a community page and they advised that my brooder plate was too small for their size how (they sleep under it or huddled together). They told me to get a heat lamp.

The room temperature is in the 70s.

I have one (while I wait for the second larger brooder) and now the chickens don’t sleep at night when they did previously.

What does this mean?

For background:

I’m feeding them medicated food, they have a brooder plate, large pine shavings, water with probiotic & electrolyte, and medicated starter feed. I clean their bedding at least ever other day if not daily.

I’m new to this and doing the best I can so please be kind.

 

[nuthatched]

Just feathers coming in, it's normal.

 

[Standoutcheetah]

Just feathers coming in, it's normal.

Thank you!!

 

[rosemarythyme]

I have one (while I wait for the second larger brooder) and now the chickens don’t sleep at night when they did previously.

What does this mean?

The light is keeping them up at night.

I agree the brooder plate is too small for 15 but if your ambient temperature without heat source is holding in the 70s, at 3.5 weeks you really don't need any added heat.

I’m feeding them medicated food, they have a brooder plate, large pine shavings, water with probiotic & electrolyte, and medicated starter feed.

Electrolytes are not meant for daily usage, they're old enough to be past shipping/rehoming stress (unless you just got them) so I'd discontinue that.

 

[Stephine]

The light is keeping them up at night.

I agree the brooder plate is too small for 15 but if your ambient temperature without heat source is holding in the 70s, at 3.5 weeks you really don't need any added heat.

Electrolytes are not meant for daily usage, they're old enough to be past shipping/rehoming stress (unless you just got them) so I'd discontinue that.

I am always surprised at these recommendations of lower temperatures. My chicks love their heat lamp. Just this week I got a new batch of 4 from MPC and I had set their brooder up with a 175W red lamp. They huddled under it and peeped for a good while - in a 70 degree room, no drafts. Switched it to the 250 power bulb and finally they were happy. This is at about 16-18” from the brooder floor (as close as I can get because I put the lamp above the wire cover of the brooder. My thermometer red 117F underneath! (the 175W lamp “only” got 105). Granted by the next day they didn’t sleep right under it anymore, but still! They were shipped, so I am sure they were cold from the trip. Finally switched them to the 175W yesterday (at 6 days old) and they are good with it now. But I have not once had chicks that were happy without heat in a 70F room at 3 weeks old. At that age they still love lying in a circle around the glow of the lamp. Maybe if you have a whole bunch of chicks at a time, so they keep each other warm better? I usually have 3-4 at a time, once I had 8.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I am always surprised at these recommendations of lower temperatures. I have not once had chicks that were happy without heat in a 70F room at 3 weeks old. At that age they still love lying in a circle around the glow of the lamp. Maybe if you have a whole bunch of chicks at a time, so they keep each other warm better? I usually have 3-4 at a time, once I had 8.

I've only done small batches, 3-4 chicks. I don't keep a large flock and my brooding set up really isn't made for more than that.

My first batch of chicks (2016) were raised in a bathtub with a red heat lamp, and it was way too hot for my liking even though the chicks seemed unbothered by the roasting hot temperatures.

After that (2018) I switched to brooding outdoors with a mama heating pad: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/short-on-time-recycle-a-prefab-brooder.73985/

My previous batch of chicks (2020) at 3 weeks old spent nearly all day outside of the brooder, tucking under the heat to nap but otherwise they didn't choose to stay around a heat source. This is with temperatures in the 50s-60s during the day.

I've currently got a batch of chicks under 2 weeks old that need to have their first out-of-brooder outing but weather isn't cooperating (colder and rainier), so they'll likely take longer to start the face-to-face part of integration than the previous batch.

 

[SandyRiverChick]

I am always surprised at these recommendations of lower temperatures. My chicks love their heat lamp. Just this week I got a new batch of 4 from MPC and I had set their brooder up with a 175W red lamp. They huddled under it and peeped for a good while - in a 70 degree room, no drafts. Switched it to the 250 power bulb and finally they were happy. This is at about 16-18” from the brooder floor (as close as I can get because I put the lamp above the wire cover of the brooder. My thermometer red 117F underneath! (the 175W lamp “only” got 105). Granted by the next day they didn’t sleep right under it anymore, but still! They were shipped, so I am sure they were cold from the trip. Finally switched them to the 175W yesterday (at 6 days old) and they are good with it now. But I have not once had chicks that were happy without heat in a 70F room at 3 weeks old. At that age they still love lying in a circle around the glow of the lamp. Maybe if you have a whole bunch of chicks at a time, so they keep each other warm better? I usually have 3-4 at a time, once I had 8.

I'm going to keep it short and just say that not everyone has the same experience, clearly. I find your experience surprising and I would be concerned that it would be dangerous for you to recommend to people that temps of *117 and *105 are good so just chalk it up to exception to norm... ? My experience is the opposite of yours. I've tried excessive heat and the chicks sought to get away from it. And I'm talking *95... I have 3-6 at a time.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Hi, welcome to the forum! Glad you joined!

Hello! I have 15 -3.5 (I think) week old chicks. A few of them had puffed up or ruffled feathers and I’m a new chicken tender paranoid about cocci.

At that age they are only partially feathered out. I call it the vulture stage after I saw a row of mine that were black lined up on a perch and looking really rough. With some feathers already grown, some growing, and some parts still bare down they can look really rough. If they are standing around looking really lethargic and as if they don't feel well I'd be concerned and treat for cocci. If it is that they are only partially feathered expect them to look really sleek and slick when they finish feathering out, probably within a week.

I posted my setup to a community page and they advised that my brooder plate was too small for their size how (they sleep under it or huddled together). They told me to get a heat lamp.

It is easy to get confused. On social media such as this forum and your community page you can get all kinds of conflicting advice and suggestions. We all have different experiences and opinions. You can see that through other comments you have received in this thread. It does not mean that anyone is specifically wrong for their circumstances but we all have different circumstances.

I have one (while I wait for the second larger brooder) and now the chickens don’t sleep at night when they did previously.

What does this mean?

They are in a room in your house. What kind of light are they getting in there? Does it get dark? If they are active at night they are getting light from somewhere. It could be the heat lamp, maybe something else. I use a red heat lamp in my brooder in the coop, that seems to keep them calmer than a white light. At night it gets dark in that coop.

My approach to heat is to offer them one area warm enough that they can go to so they can warm up when they need to and let the rest cool off as it will. I brood outside so the far reaches of the brooder can cool off quite a bit. In your house in that room you seem to be limited to the 70's Fahrenheit minimum.

The question: Do they need extra heat at that age in 70 degrees F? Mine are exposed to lower temperatures since I brood outside and mine don't need extra heat. If yours haven't been acclimated yours may appreciate some heat. But the only way to know that is to see what they do if they don't have that heat. Are they comfortable and go about the business of being chicks or do they stand around and give a heart rending plaintive peep. Anybody hearing it can tell they are miserable. I assume that room is the same temperature day and night. Try turning off the heat plate and heat lamp both so it is ambient temperature. Observe them few hours and see how they behave. Let them tell you how they feel.

Another way to approach this. There is a rule of thumb on here to start them off at 90 degrees F (some people use 95, a few even start at 100 F, we can never agree on anything) then drop the temperature 5 degrees each week to get a safe temperature. If you do that you get a chart like this:

1 to 7 days old - 90F
8 to 14 days old - 85F (1 week old)
15 to 21 days old - 80F (2 weeks old)
22 to 28 days old - 75F (3 weeks old)
29 to 35 days old - 70F (4 weeks old)

I consider this an extremely safe conservative chart. They can typically handle even cooler temperatures but if you follow this chart you will always be very safe. So how many days old are your 3.5 week old chicks?

Regardless of any rules of thumb or any advice you get, I think it is prudent to watch them yourself and see what they tell you. I think yours will tell you that they do not need supplemental but listen to them.

For background:

I’m feeding them medicated food, they have a brooder plate, large pine shavings, water with probiotic & electrolyte, and medicated starter feed. I clean their bedding at least ever other day if not daily.

I’m new to this and doing the best I can so please be kind.