Cornish Crosses are 1 week old...heat lamp question

[BarefootMom]

I have 25 meaties in this brooder: (pic taken yesterday morning)

They are a week old now. The temperature outside yesterday got up to 80 degrees and this morning it is 60. The brooder is outside in the shop. Yesterday I turned their heat bulb off because they were along the outside edge of the brooder and panting. Last night I turned it back on (low was 55) and this morning they were back over to the side panting. I turned it off and they started moving around a bit more.

Is this typical of meaties? I have never raised meaties before so I don't know. So should I move them to a bigger brooder and leave the heatlamp on or should I just keep it turned off when the temp is warmer outside and just go by what the meaties are doing?? OR I have a large dog cage that has chicken wire over it that I could move them into...it is a bit bigger than their brooder now, OR I could move half of them to a brooder just below them that is the same size of the brooder that they are in now and have heat lamps on in both brooders.... What would you do??

you can see the entire brooder in this pic:

 

[bigredfeather]

At 1 week old, you're CX's need a consistant brooder temp of 85-90 degrees. The rule of thumb for other chicks is to lower the temp by 5 degrees each week, but due to their quick growth, it's more like 10 degrees less per week for CX . The key is having a consistant temp, which hard to do when the enviormental temps are flucuating so much. I really can't answer your question specifically, because it just depends. Just keep watching them to see how they are acting. You did the right thing when you saw them panting and sitting outside the ring. The first 2 weeks for CX can be tricky, but after that it gets much easier.

Goodluck!

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

if they are panting you're right they're too hot. You could raise the light or put a lower watt bulb in it. I take the light off of mine at two weeks when we hit your temps.

 

[BarefootMom]

Quote:
I can't really raise the light since it is at the top of the brooder. I guess I could get a lower watt bulb though. It is so hard with these crazy temps outside. three days ago it was 25 degrees and spitting snow, yesterday it was 80, today it is 70 and this weekend we could hit 90! crazy missouri weather!

 

[Renee']

I suggest putting them in a very large brooder with the heat lamp on. This will provide them the opportunity to regulate their temp by moving near or away from the heat source. I had a similar problem (huge changes in outside temp) with my 25 Cornish X (hatched 2/22).

The entire time they have been in an 8'x8' brooder. The first few weeks I hung a tarp to keep them limited to one side with two lights. Week two I turned off the 100W light and left the 250W on. Week 3 & 4 I just left the 100W on at night. If you leave them plenty of room and a heat source, they will regulate themselves real well. One important thing that I learned is that hot chicks tend to get pasty butt so it's best to have them a bit cool, versus a bit warm.

Good luck!

 

[BarefootMom]

thanks! Now I just need to get hubby to finish putting the tin on the new coop...it is 8x8 and the meaties are going to go in there once it is finished. It is close to the house so it won't be too hard to run an extension cord for a heat lamp. For now I am seperating them into 2 different groups. I moved heat lamp around where now I have 1 corner of each brooder that is a bit cooler so they can get out of the direct line of heat.

My big brooder which is 4x4 is currently occupied with 110 1 week old pullets...soon to be 120...