Do heat lamps cause more issues with Pasty Butt than Brooder Plates?

[ForFlocksSake]

This is simply an observation based on my 3 experiences brooding chicks.

-My first brood was from Tractor Supply. They were all about a week old when I got them so they spent their first week in the big metal bins under infrared heat lamps. When I got them home I put them in my garage where it was plenty warm and only needed to provide a brooder plate, however pasty butt became an issue very quickly (some came with a bit of yuck already on them). I needed to consistently check and wash them for the first few days of being home.

- My second brood came from MPC (Meyer hatchery) as day old chicks. It was November so much colder in my garage and I needed to provide them with more than just the brooder plate and hung an infrared lamp above them. I made sure I only warmed a portion so they could escape the heat. While I did monitor the temp inside the brooder closely I still had a few girls with pasty butt, one in particular who needed daily soaks for the first week or so home.

- I just received my third batch of babies yesterday morning. They again came from MPC (Meyer hatchery) as day old chicks, so never exposed to other heat sources other than their incubator, maybe a brief stay in a heated bin, and the small heat pack they're shipped with. This time the garage is more than warm enough so I just provided them with the Brooder plate. During the day I catch them napping all over the box, and last night/this morning they were all under the plate as the garage was slightly cooler. I keep checking them and see nothing but sparkling behinds. Pristine. Nothing but soft floof and clear vents. Not trying to count my chickens before they hatch (see what I did there?) but I definitely noticed dirtier butts this time last brood.

Is there a correlation to my science here? I don't think my last day olds were overheating since I had a thermometer under the hottest part and never let it get warmer than 95 with the other part of the brooder being around 80. Do brooder plates make for healthier behinds?

 

[NatJ]

Is there a correlation to my science here? I don't think my last day olds were overheating since I had a thermometer under the hottest part and never let it get warmer than 95 with the other part of the brooder being around 80. Do brooder plates make for healthier behinds?

I've had plenty of clean butts when brooding with a heat lamp, of course with plenty of space for chicks to escape the heat. So it's more complicated than just heat lamp vs. brooder plate.

Given your small sample size here (3 batches), I think there is just as much chance that the pasty butts are caused by stress rather than heat method. The batch you ordered during cold weather was probably stressed more during shipping than the batch in warm weather. The batch that spent a week in the feed store is a complete mystery as far as shipping stress, plus the unknown question of how much stress at the store.

So I would say it is an interesting observation, and you certainly might be onto something, but I don't think there is enough information (yet) to know for sure whether the heat source is contributing or not.

It would be interesting to take a batch of chicks that were shipped together in one box, and split them into two brooders with different heat sources, to see if there is any obvious difference in rates of pasty butt. That would mean they all had the same shipping experience, and were being raised at the same time of year (in case that matters), so the source of heat would be the main difference between the groups.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

Were you brooding inside your house when using the heat lamp? Brooder plates heat through contact on their back that warms their body. Heat lamps create an ambient heat. I have brooded many chicks with a heat lamp with no pasty butt issues, but I brood in a very large brooder that is in my barn. If you brood inside a house with a heat lamp your heat lamp needs to be moved further away from the chicks than most people think. When you are brooding inside a heated house those “cooler” spots in your brooder are not as cool as you would think. Many people think that because the light from the heat lamp isn’t covering part of the brooder that it’s a “cool” spot, but unless you have a fairly large brooder that “cool” spot is actually still being heated by the heat lamp. I had to demonstrate this to someone new to chickens because they could not understand why their chickens were getting pasty butt when they had a cool spot. I placed a thermometer under the heat lamp, on the “cool” side of the brooder and we compared it to the temperature of the house at the time. They had their house set at 70F, it was 90F under the heat lamp and on the “cool” side of the brooder it was right around 85F. Chicks do not need to be forced warm 24/7, but need to have the option 24/7 available to choose to be warm. I have brooded chicks in my barn down to 40F outdoor temperature. My brooder is 10’x10’ with a heat lamp and a brooder plate which leaves plenty of space that is just as cold as the outdoor temperature. People are surprised when they come to visit and see the chicks running around playing away from any of the heat even when it’s 40F outside.

 

[ForFlocksSake]

Were you brooding inside your house when using the heat lamp? Brooder plates heat through contact on their back that warms their body. Heat lamps create an ambient heat. I have brooded many chicks with a heat lamp with no pasty butt issues, but I brood in a very large brooder that is in my barn. If you brood inside a house with a heat lamp your heat lamp needs to be moved further away from the chicks than most people think. When you are brooding inside a heated house those “cooler” spots in your brooder are not as cool as you would think. Many people think that because the light from the heat lamp isn’t covering part of the brooder that it’s a “cool” spot, but unless you have a fairly large brooder that “cool” spot is actually still being heated by the heat lamp. I had to demonstrate this to someone new to chickens because they could not understand why their chickens were getting pasty butt when they had a cool spot. I placed a thermometer under the heat lamp, on the “cool” side of the brooder and we compared it to the temperature of the house at the time. They had their house set at 70F, it was 90F under the heat lamp and on the “cool” side of the brooder it was right around 85F. Chicks do not need to be forced warm 24/7, but need to have the option 24/7 available to choose to be warm. I have brooded chicks in my barn down to 40F outdoor temperature. My brooder is 10’x10’ with a heat lamp and a brooder plate which leaves plenty of space that is just as cold as the outdoor temperature. People are surprised when they come to visit and see the chicks running around playing away from any of the heat even when it’s 40F outside.

No it was in my garage during November. I had a thermometer inside the brooder on the floor directly under the hottest spot to make sure it never went above the recommended temps and also made sure there was plenty of area where they could get out of the heat. I would put the thermometer under that area as well and it was significantly cooler.

im likely making connections that aren't there.This batch of babies may just be particularly healthy in comparison.

 

[rosemarythyme]

As noted above it's less about the specific heat source and more about how much heat they're getting, and how effectively can they move away from it if they don't want it. It's easier to provide a noticeably cooler zone away from a heat plate than it is with a heat lamp, so I think if you looked at 2 matching "typical" brooder set ups (i.e. stock tank) and 2 sets of identically sourced chicks, you'd likely see less pasty butt in the plate group.

I rarely see pasty butt with my outdoor brooded chicks using a MHP, and if they have it they had it from the feed store. It goes away after a couple days in my set up.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I almost never see pasty butt in my outdoor 3' x 6' brooder using a heat lamp. I heat one end and the far side can really cool off. I hatch most of mine, very few are shipped. Best I can remember the few pasty butt issues are with shipped chicks but I'm not sure I've never had an issue with one that I hatched in an incubator. I've never noticed a pasty butt issue with chicks a broody hatched and raised.

I found it interesting that the first batch of chicks were a week old and you still had pasty butt issues. I don't recall ever having pasty butt issues with chicks that old but my shipped chicks aren't that old when I get them.

 

[mcdze]

ive never used a heat plate and almost never get sick chicks .. the trick is using a proper wattage light and getting it located so 1) it doesnt tend to turn the whole brooder into an oven, and 2) it creates a warm spot so it allows the chicks to get into and out of it .... other major factors are brooder design, an open sided freakin brooder allows draft on your chicks and thats a huge no no, seen alot of people use dog cages etc, bad idea, it needs to be enclosed with an open top ... another factor is litter medium, i think wood or pine shavings is a bad idea in a long list of bad ideas for birds, it works fine for effin hamsters, not birds .. use a natural grass or newspaper imo ... i make a couple passes in my yard with a bagging mower, dump it on my garage floor for a couple days to dry out, perfect stuff ... lastly dont give effin 'treats' and 'fruti' water to chicks, i know you want to love on your special little guys, but your goddam killing them and making them sick with that crap .. give them chickstarter and straight water, thats it, and yeah id avoid city water for sure ...

 

[rosemarythyme]

I found it interesting that the first batch of chicks were a week old and you still had pasty butt issues. I don't recall ever having pasty butt issues with chicks that old but my shipped chicks aren't that old when I get them.

Had that with my current batch of chicks actually. One chick was a week older than the others, the rest had arrived the day before they were available for sale at the feed store (which uses a typical set up with heat lamps over a stock tank). The oldest was the only one with pasty butt but it was fairly mild and went away after a couple of days.

 

[ForFlocksSake]

I almost never see pasty butt in my outdoor 3' x 6' brooder using a heat lamp. I heat one end and the far side can really cool off. I hatch most of mine, very few are shipped. Best I can remember the few pasty butt issues are with shipped chicks but I'm not sure I've never had an issue with one that I hatched in an incubator. I've never noticed a pasty butt issue with chicks a broody hatched and raised.

I found it interesting that the first batch of chicks were a week old and you still had pasty butt issues. I don't recall ever having pasty butt issues with chicks that old but my shipped chicks aren't that old when I get them.

Im estimating the age of my first batch but based off the day olds I received the last 2 batches they were definitely older.