Do 1 day old chick need dark at night?

[bjerro]

While darkness is not a requirement, establishing a normal day/night cycle from the start can be very beneficial and result in happier/more balanced chicks and adults down the road. To heat without having to use light you can use a Mama Heat Pad (there is an excellent thread here on BYC) or a brooder plate as the heat source. I would not use any flammable materiel (ie the tea towel) anywhere near the heat lamp, even with what might seem infallible precautions the two can end up in contact with each other and the results are never good.
As to the temperature, while 90-95 is a commonly recommended range for the first week (lowering by 5 degrees each week thereafter) this is actually erring very much on the side of caution -- rather than relying on the thermometer it is better to use your chicks' behavior to guide your heating. Provide a warm spot in one area of the brooder (if using a light this is directly under the light) but provide ample "cool" space outside of that area (many thing you must heat the whole brooder). This approach allows the chicks to better regulate their temperature themselves. If the chicks are all huddled right under the heat they are showing they are too cool, if they are all huddled as far away as they can from the heat they are too hot.....you are looking for happy chicks scattered about the brooder. It is very easy to overheat chicks and in many ways more dangerous to have them be overheated than to have them be a little cool.

god bless you!!!!!

 

[ParadisedivaChic]

god bless you!!!!!

Hi I love your explanation! Makes total common sense! And I feel humans are always trying to find ways of doing things easier for ourselves without thinking of perhaps consequences. In this case with an animal that was created by God.
God created the chicken and then she gives birth to eggs whom she lovingly cares for all through the process. So therefore if chicks are sleeping with mom in darkness at night .. to me they should also be kept in darkness at night.
As it’s true brooding our chicks don’t seem to do any harm or change the chickens personality or moodiness.. we just don’t know if our friendly chicken could had been even better off if it had slept in night darkness rather then light. It’s not like anyone is doing any testing son this.
I personally bought day old chicks and put them in the coop from day one. But I have the coop in my heated sunroom. And I didn’t need a heating source at all! I watched them for 4 nights in a row.. waking up to check on them .. They all slept like babies! I wish I could tale photos and post this. I’m not good at this forum yet. I’m fairly new here. But I keep my small heated flooring at 104* during night and day. During day when sun hitting it I have to open 1 window as it gets very hot. As sun sets I shut their doors and windows and the inside coop lowers to 65-68* but they seem to sleep wonderfully! Even my 2 little batams. I do have 16chicks all together in there. It’s to cute! I know I will have to transfer them in a couple weeks and separate as they all can’t fit in there! Lol
But thank you for great information! Which I already had seen something written about this somewhere else and it was a old Amish farmer! Which I trust their experiences !