Do I just turn off the heat lamp?

[JanetR]

My chicks are 4 weeks old and it's warm enough in the house that I don't need a heat lamp anymore. (Gotta finish the coop)

After being in light 24/7 is it ok to just turn it off?

 

[mdbokc]

They'll chirp and cheep in a distressful manner. After a couple of nights, they'll start to get the new routine. I remember the first time I turned off the lights. I figured I'd tone it down with a night light so not to abrupt a change. Small cheeping and then they were in a very tight semicircle around it as close as they could get. It was their "security blanket."

Even now, in my coop with all the girls, the 60w goes off and about 15 minutes later, the LED Xmas light string goes off. Both are on separate timers. So they have a 15 minute warnings to final "lights out." Just how I do it.

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
Agreed. Turn it off in the daytime so it gets dark gradually vs. it going dark suddenly at night. The first couple of nights they are going to raise a fuss when it starts to get dark, but they'll get over it. Just make sure they don't pile on top of each other in fright, then just let them get over it. They have to grow up sometime.

 

[JanetR]

Ok. Thanks. So tomorrow morning it will be lights out.

I hope they don't get too upset!